Thu, 27 Jun 2024 12:55:35 -0700WeeblySun, 15 Jun 2014 20:13:24 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/afearias-love-affair-with-meat-and-her-unrealized-flirtations

This stuff looks and smells fantastic! she thinks. I’m getting all I can! Her eye locks with one entree in particular that boils her excitement. “What is this dish!?” she asks the server.

“It’s just meatloaf,” he replies nonchalantly.

“You lie! A loaf of meat! Just meat!? That’s genius!”

“Ma’am, calm down.” Everyone looks at Afearia like she’s nuts.

Afearia immediately calms herself. “Ahem, sorry. May I have the meatloaf, please?”

“How many slices?”

“Huh? No, I want the loaf.”

The stares from the people return after hearing what she’s asking for. A man standing near Afearia leans toward her. “Aaa, that’s a lot of meat for a girl, don’t you think?”

Afearia gives him a disturbing glare. “Don’t come between me and my food. I like to eat. You got a problem with that?” The man nervously backs up. “Nothing to say? Good!” She turns back to the server with a smile. “Well, can I have that? I’ll pay whatever you want for that loaf of heaven.” She breathes deeply through her nose. “Even that aroma is beyond seductive.”

“Uh… okay,” the server says before taking her tray and putting the meatloaf plate on it. Afearia takes the tray and happily strolls to the register.

She notices some vegetables and hands the employee her tray. “Fill the edges of the dish with lots of broccoli.” The customers watch her like she’s unnatural. She pays for her food and immediately finds a table to sit at. Her eye remains fixated on the mountain of beef. Most of the customers, including the cooks and servers watch Afearia silently.

She takes a deep whiff, rips a chunk off with her fork, and takes her first bite. Afearia’s eye wells up as she raises her hand to her mouth. “Oh my. This is… the greatest food in the worlds! The meat is seasoned to perfection! And this tomato sauce neatly layered on top is genius. Pure genius!” She quickly begins taking bigger pieces into her mouth with the broccoli. “The meat overpowers all!” she says with her mouth full. “It’s flavor in a bombshell!”

Once she finishes her meal, Afearia leans back and exhales with a smile. Suddenly, a saucer is placed next to her plate. On the saucer is a slice of meatloaf with mozzarella cheese baked in the center.

She looks up to see the cook bow. “This is a token of appreciation from our chef,” he humbly says. Afearia leans her chair back to see a tall man standing by the kitchen as he gives her a light nod with a smile. “This is the second variation of his prized dish that he loves so much.”

She leans back down at the food with a wide eye. Her fork rips slowly into the meat before gently caressing her tongue in beef and cheese. Once again, her eye wells up. “This man is going to make me cry. Marvelous flavor.”

The cook stands straight. “He hoped you’d like it. The chef asked if you would be so kind as to talk with him once he’s off work.”

“I would be honored. When?”

“He’ll be finished with his shift in two hours.”

“I guess I’ll return then.” The cook walks away while Afearia finishes her complementary dish.

When the time arrived, Afearia returns to the café to meet with the chef. He notices her right away and politely stands as she approaches.

The man is over six feet tall with a dark brown complexion. He has a large, solid build, that’s easy to notice through his tight black shirt. His biceps are large and deeply sculpted like the rest of his arms. Even his hands are exceptionally large. The man has dark brown eyes and a smooth, wavy dark caesar. Under his red chef’s apron are snug-fit blue jeans. His neatly trimmed, short-haired beard connects to his short-length mustache and sideburns.

Afearia approaches the chef and shakes his hand while giving him an incredibly kind smile. “Hello, meatloaf chef.”

He laughs. “Please, call me Richard,” he says in a deep voice. “Have a seat with me for a bit.”

She sits and leans her head on her propped arm. Afearia has yet to stop smiling as she looks him up and down. “You’re quite handsome up close,” she says with innocent intent, but flirtatious poise. “And you have an outstanding body.” Richard makes a slightly uncomfortable face. “You must workout a lot.”

“I do what I can.”

“Being modest?”

“I never try to oversell myself.”

She chuckles. “It’s not a bad thing to admit positive features about yourself. For example, I happen to be very limber. You have strong hands that compliment those burly arms.” When he laughs, she smiles. “Now I can add a hearty laugh to that list.”

“Are you hitting on me?”

She quickly sits up straight. “Hitting on you!? I don’t hit humans. At least, I try not to.” She looks around the table. “Are you being hit somewhere?”

He chuckles. “Never mind. I was very happy that you enjoyed my meatloaf. I never had someone so pleased by that dish before. Are you a person who favors meat over other foods?”

“Favor? I love meat! If it wasn’t so bad for my body I would eat it all the time. I still can’t believe how good that was. I almost cried, which is weird,” she says with a giggle and a smile.

“Nothing like seeing someone so impressed by meatloaf. I have other dishes.”

“No, no,” waving her hand about. “I’m quite full. Besides, your food scares me. I feel like I would do anything for more.”

“That’s quite the compliment. What’s your name? I want to remember the person who was most impressed by my cooking.”

“I’m Afe—I-I’m Averil.”

“Okay, Averil. Pardon me for asking, but what’s the deal with the scarf? You have a beautiful blue eye. Why hide the other one?”

She smiles and brushes the bangs from her eye. “Thank you. But I have a nasty eye infection.”

“Oh? You should buy an eye patch.”

“An eye patch, huh? I’ll consider it. So, what’s the recipe for that fine meat of yours?” she asks while leaning at the edge of her seat.

“I’m sorry, that’s my secret.”

Afearia frowns. “That’s the last thing I wanted to hear from you. I guess I’ll make it a top priority to return to this village when my journey is over. Come to think of it, this town is far from so many other locations. When I came here I was afraid this place would be filled with Demis.”

“Demis?”

“Why do you seem confused?”

“I figured you weren’t from this area.”

“What tipped you off?”

“Your remarkable love for food,” he jokes. “But your statement about Demis was all I needed.”

Richard notices something and points to the corner of his mouth while looking at Afearia. “Kiss?” she says with some excitement while mimicking his gesture.

“Uh, no. You have some of my sauce at the corner of your mouth.”

She quickly turns away to wipe her mouth. “Oh, my—how shameful of me.”

“Haha, that’s quite alright, Averil.” Richard hands Afearia a napkin from his apron. “Here.” She takes it and wipes the corner of her mouth. “Have you ever heard of Salavania?”


]]>Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:43:21 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/valeries-growth

Although the meeting in Derexen’s palace has ended, some of the members have yet to take their leave. The first floor of the palace has a wide middle stairway connecting with two other stairways from the left and right sides leading to the higher floors. Supporting the higher floors are stone pillars lined underneath.

On the first floor, Bonnie, Agonda, and Jodi have a brief conversation. The three of them speak near the doors leading outside the palace.

“And that’s all we know as of now,” Bonnie says.

“So if she survived the blast,” Jodi says. “Then those locations are my best chances of finding her before Glenn.”

Agonda nods. “That’s correct.”

“Her face. Her lips. And that body! I get such strong urges when I recall it.”

“How can you even tell she has a good body? She’s quite covered.”

“You weren’t looking hard enough.”

Bonnie bumps Agonda. “Don’t encourage him. Now Jodi, we only told you this for that ‘exchange’. Do not kill her.”

Jodi makes a lustful face. “But the excitement! That girl is—!” He briefly pounders. “Say, how do you think she looks in a two-piece bikini? Mmm, she must be delicious.”

“Jodi, come on,” Agonda says. “If you kill her, it’ll be really bad for all of us.”

Jodi becomes less excited and walks several feet from them. “Fine, I won’t go too far. And in exchange as promised,” he turns his head toward them with a deranged smile. “I’ll find ‘its’ remains,” he says before sticking out his tongue. Black hands with arms come from his waist and push him into the floor from his head through a black portal beneath his feet.

Once he was transported from the room, Bonnie makes a face of revulsion. “He’s disgusting.”

“Yes, but he is of use to you, is he not?”

“He’s a fool who is a waste of my time. All he cares about is satisfying his primal desires. Truth be told, he would turn on anyone who can’t satisfy his urges.”

“Reminds me of the first time you asked for his aid. What did he ask you to do?”

Bonnie lightly blushes before clearing her throat. “Moving on. I think I’m losing Derexen’s trust. And that’s very bad.”

“That is unfortunate. But you knew that was going to happen eventually. But I don’t understand. Why are you in need of Afearia? Why withhold information?”

“Not here, Agonda!” she quickly blurts.

“What’s going on here?” Valerie sternly asks as she comes down the center stairway. “Don’t you two have things to do?”

Bonnie grits her teeth. “You’re one to talk. Shouldn’t you be upstairs?”

“I sensed not everyone had left the building and decided to see why those remain. And a moment ago, I’m sure Jodi was here.”

“Listen, number ten—!”

“It’s Valerie.”

Bonnie’s aggravation rises. “Your high and mighty attitude is really starting to make me mad. Last I checked, I’m number six and you’re number ten. And I don’t recall Derexen making you the false watcher of the organization.”

Valerie slowly steps to Bonnie, stopping in front of her with a calm intensity. “Then let me open your eyes, Bonnie. These numbers mean nothing besides their entry placement. I go by what lord Derexen says, not you. So don’t give these numbers more meaning than they have. You can’t manipulate me like you used too. This isn’t like the day you found me.”

“That just makes you ungrateful,” Bonnie nearly snarls.

“Oh, I am grateful. I am grateful to you for giving me the chance to meet the mighty king of Terra. That’s why I’ve never put you down for insulting me.” Bonnie grunts. “But if you or anyone else does anything against the lord’s wishes, I will not hesitate to remove your shameful, putrid, body from this world.”

Bonnie steps closer. “You little—!”

Agonda grabs Bonnie’s shoulder. “Let’s go. We do have things to tend too.”

Bonnie grumbles at her once more. “You better stop accusing me of treachery, Valerie. I mean it.” Bonnie storms out the building with Agonda steadily following her. Valerie closes the doors behind them and walks back upstairs.

On the second floor, Yadeira sits at a smaller, yet similar dining table as the meeting room. The only few differences are the room’s positive décor with the open windows letting the sun in to gleam off the brown waxed wooden table. The room itself is three-fourths the size of the usual gathering area with only four chairs available.

Yadeira quietly draws a rough draft of Afearia’s face when Valerie comes in the room from the doors behind her. “Was she still here?” Yadeira asks.

Valerie sighs before sitting on the table edge next to her. “Yeah. That woman… I don’t understand why lord Derexen keeps her around.”

Yadeira smirks. “Maybe they’re lovers,” she says before giggling.

“Gross, and not even funny.”

“I’m just kidding. But lord Derexen always has a plan. You don’t have to worry. No one can surpass him,” she says with a serious look in her eye.

“But she’s not the only one. I’m concerned about how high the odds are stacking.”

Yadeira makes a confused face before looking up at her. “Who are you—?”

Glenn comes through the doors. “Sorry I’m late. Had to get the word out on Afearia.” He walks to the other side of Yadeira. “How long until you finish, Yadeira?”

“I need about fifteen to thirty minutes. I can have the mass copies done in two to three hours. You and Valerie can distribute them soon after completion.”

“How do you plan to make that many copies so soon? Never mind, I don’t care.” He walks from the table. “I’ll be back in two hours.” He leaves the room with the girls saying nothing for a moment.

Valerie gazes at the light coming from the window before turning her head to Yadeira. “Do you think the lord is happy?”

Yadeira stops drawing. She remains motionless for a moment before she continues drawing. “I think he’s not fully satisfied with his progress. In truth, a man in his position doesn’t have room for happiness.”

“Out of all the years I’ve known him I have never seen him smile.”

“Does that bother you?”

“Of course that bothers me!”

“He’ll be fine. Lord Derexen is far too strong willed to let things like emotions restrict him. He will not be shackled by greed, blind by anger, or consumed with pride. And so—lord Derexen will never find peace. Even if this world became his ideal Eden and he did, he would no longer be qualified as king.”

Valerie stares at her with a slightly surprised expression. Her response was so clean, she thinks. If I replace he, his, and Derexen with I and my, I could have easily sworn I was talking to the king himself. To be able to speak so highly of him while sounding just like him…

Yadeira looks up at her and smiles. “What’s with the face, Ms. Valerie?”

“Nothing… Seems like you may understand him better than I do.”

She giggles. “Don’t say that. I don’t think anyone in the organization deserves to be where you stand in the lord’s kingdom. You have a wonderful position.”

“And what’s that?”

“I can’t say.”

Valerie smirks. “Has your mental synchronization with the lord been served?”

 “I can’t say. Just don’t underestimate where you stand with him.” Yadeira turns to her with a calm demeanor. “Your position—okay?”

“Yeah… Okay.”


]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:31:56 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/afearia-vs-the-experiment

Afearia doesn’t respond to his words and steps out the car before closing the door. She waits and watches the man drive off into another devouring shadow before approaching the ruin.

Soon after walking closer, Afearia begins coughing almost violently. This dark air is thicker than that tree, she says to herself. It’s choking. I hope my senses adjust soon. She moves on into the ruin when a startling beam of dark energy shoots into the sky.

It shakes the ground with great force, breaking apart more of the ruins and sounding off like a mighty blow horn. Afearia quickly moves through a near crumbled wall to take cover while watching the skies darkening hue. She covers her ears to the unbelievably loud discharge. After thirty seconds, the beam ceases, slightly returning the sky to its usual tint.

What was that? Afearia thinks. Where did that burst of energy come from? Afearia waits a few more seconds before turning around the corner to see a deep hole in the ground. The floor’s completely gone. There’s rocky debris in all corners and burn marks of what remains of the area. Afearia leans over the hole to look below, but sees nothing inside the black hollow. She kicks a couple small rocks and hears them hit other rocks before the low sound of struck metal.

So there is something down there, she thinks. Afearia leaps down where she heard the closest rock drop. She repeats this several times, knocking rocks to find places to jump until she lands on weak ground and falls through. Afearia’s brief fall drops her on a pile of sand. After groaning, she leans up as the clouds part from the red moonlight, illuminating the room.

In front of her is a giant machine with thick metal tubes embedded in the ground. Around the ground tubes is seeping dark smog. At the top of this machine is a cluster of large nozzles lightly smoking. In rings of three are exhaust pipes pointing upward.

The machine is lightly rumbling with an occasional grinding noise when suddenly, a man’s voice arises. “Is that the package?”

Afearia looks toward a crumbled wall by the machine that is mostly covered in shadow. “Hmph.” She slides down from the dirt hill. “Why don’t you come out from the dark?”

“Sorry, but I don’t know if you are the one I’m waiting for. Did Ronald send you? If so, please toss that box over here.”

She does as he asked and hears the box caught. The sound of the box opening goes through the air, moments before the man starts chuckling. Suddenly, dozens of lights tied around the columns turn on. The wall Afearia’s been cautiously watching has dozens of wires coming from the other side. “And you insist on hiding,” Afearia says.

“Isn’t our transaction complete?”

“It would be, if I didn’t know you were a Demi Anthropoid.”

“What gave me away?”

“I can smell the darkness in you. There’s even another dark scent in these ruins that I’m having trouble pinpointing, but it’s certainly heavier than yours.”

Two floors above, a robed man lies on the floor with his eyes barely able to see over the edge. She can smell us? he says to himself. I’ve never heard of that before.

“So there’s no chance of you letting me go?” the shady man behind the wall asks.

“As if, but I think you prefer it this way. Telling from the amount of malice I hear in your voice.”

He chuckles. “My, my, my, Afearia. Your depths of perception are nothing to sneeze at.” He holds out a small white paper with the words, ‘Annihilate Afearia’ written on it. He lets it blow through the wind before walking out from behind the wall.

The man is a nice shade of russet with a well sculpted upper body. He has mid-length curly hair and a bushy mustache. His charcoal tank-top fits snugly to his body, matching his loose-fit black slacks. Instead of laces, his black boots fasten with buckles.

“So this was a set up.”

“Don’t act dense. I know you knew at some point of arriving here.”

She smirks and flicks her ponytail back. “Hmph. And which member of the government are you? Or are you just another government flunky?”

“Watch who you’re calling a flunky. I’m the closest thing to the real deal. That’s why they nicknamed me, ‘The Experiment’. I’m here to test your power. And if you die, then you were nothing but a waste of time. Who knows, maybe I’ll get a promotion into the actual ranks.”

Afearia carelessly yawns. “Honestly, none of you creatures seem to get it. I am too strong in comparison to all of you. The best chance your king has is to stop taking me lightly and send someone from the elites. Not even. He should just come himself.” Afearia smiles while pointing at him. “You back alley roaches got nothing on me.”

He stares at her arrogant pose while hiding his annoyance. “Give me a moment.” He walks up to the machine and pops open a small metal door. Afearia hears beeping as he inputs key commands.

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure the generator won’t go off during our fight. If it did, it would kill us both.”

“Generator?”

“You don’t know? Heh, of course not. You’re not local to these plains. No matter. It’s none of your business.”

“Hmph, seems important.” She smirks. “I’ll be sure to smash it after I finish with you.” Afearia summons her red blade. “Demonweaver should suffice.”

She runs toward him with her big grin and does a strong backhanded sword sweep. The man raises his hand and blocks it with his forearm. Her attack doesn’t even cut his skin. Afearia makes a surprised face before jumping back with the blade slicing across his forearm. The sword makes small sparks, but no damage to him.

“Tch,” Afearia grunts. What was that just now? she thinks. Does he have some unseen modifications? Maybe it’s only his right arm that’s hard. She tightens her grip and rushes in a second time to strike from the left. He shifts his body sideways and tries to backhand her with his right arm. She ducks low and moves behind him. I knew it! His whole body isn’t hard! she thinks, swinging her sword from the left. To her surprise, he successfully blocks with his left forearm. He quickly turns around and grabs Afearia’s wrist before throwing her back behind him.

She lands softly on her feet and stares at him. Can he really be this solid? Afearia calmly stands. “That’s quite the body you have there.” He turns to her and says nothing. “You’re the silent type when in battle, huh?” He lifts his hand and does a come here motion with his index finger. She grunts at his taunt with a sterner expression. “You’re looking down on me? You’ll regret it.”

Afearia leaps forward and does a full dual-handed slash across his neck. Once again, his body sustains no damage. Her eye widens. Afearia becomes annoyed and slashes his torso, legs, and arms, only tearing his clothing. She steps back slowly, appearing confused. “Why are you so hard?”

He tears off his torn tank-top. “Are you through? As you can see, my body does not yield to the might of any sword.” He glares at her. “So Afearia, am I good enough for you, or is this the limit of your strength?”

“You wish!” she says, dismissing Demonweaver.

When Afearia prepares to summon another sword, her opponent seizes the moment and kicks a fallen rock into her left wrist. She grabs her wrist and loses much sensation in her hand. Before she knows it, the man rushes in and knees her in the jaw.

As she arches up from the strike, Afearia uses her right hand to prevent herself from hitting the ground and smoothly flips upright in a crouched pose. The man kicks the rock at her again while running toward her. She leans back from the rock with her right hand stretching behind her. When he nears, Afearia double kicks off him, knocking him back and balancing on one hand.

He stumbles as she flips back onto her feet. “You really don’t like falling on your ass,” he says.

“I’ve never been one to take it on my back.”

“I think you would look good on your back.”

She sarcastically smiles. “Charming.”

He glances at her swollen wrist. “You still can’t make a firm fist yet? Don’t worry. By the time you’re able, I will have already finished this.”

When he rushes forward, Afearia’s arm glows green seals for a moment. She pushes through the pain and flattens her palm on the ground. A small wall of rock rises up and blocks his path. Afearia leaps above him with her feet joined together. He jumps back before she lands and launches a hard punch to her stomach. She slams up against her own wall and slides down with her head turned. Appearing unconscious, Afearia suddenly chuckles with a sinister smile.

“Why are you smiling?” he asks.

She turns her head to him. “You’ll know in five minutes.” He grunts and prepares to kick her. Afearia jumps up before the wall crumbles from his kick. Bubbles start to flourish in her right hand until he immediately kicks up the broken rocks from the wall at her. She fails to summon and fires four chains to latch around a column before pulling herself toward it. With a stern expression, she remains crouched on the column as she watches him slowly approach.

“You guardians are nothing without your Empyrean blades. When you’ve fought as many as I have, you learn to keep their summoning talents down.”

He suddenly kicks up more rocks toward her. Afearia’s chains loosen before sliding down the column. She reaches the floor and jumps to the side as the rocks crash down. She swings her arm across her chest to have the four chains whip at her opponent. The man jumps over them when he’s suddenly shot by a steady stream of fire that grounds him. When he stands back up, he’s hit with another stream of fire that he blocks until his hands turn orange.

Afearia ends her attack while her opponent keeps his smoldering hands up. When he lowers his arms, the orange glow briefly spreads throughout his body before fading. Afearia makes a shocked face and quickly grins before swinging her chains back around. Staring at his arms, he just notices her attack and barely blocks it with his forearm.

At that moment, the orange glow returns with less intensity. Afearia stands straight, grinning while retracting her chains. She puts her hand over her head and starts laughing. “That’s unfortunate.”

“What is?” he sternly asks as the orange glow fades.

“I so wanted to end you in another way, but your abilities are not as complicated as I thought.”

“You do realize I have the advantage. I have no injuries, and—”

 “Annnd, you have bored me for the last time. After I even let you beat me around for awhile too. You couldn’t even make me bleed. All you could do was kick rocks and run around like an idiot.”

“What are you going on about?”

She points at him. “You’re not hard all over. You have metallic fragments in your body that you move around freely to guard you.”

“You still can’t beat me just because you understand it. The speed I move those fragments are beyond yours. There is no—”

“Shhh! I’m going to kill you now. Ready?” He narrows his eyes at her and bends his knees until he notices green seals take her arm and the left side of her neck. He waits for her move before she suddenly grins. “I was giving you one last chance. You’re such a stupid Demi.”

Afearia bends down and touches the ground with her left hand. Five rock columns rise up and slide over toward him. He jumps through the column, smashing it to pieces while continuing to run at her. The sound of smashing rock fills his ears, but he doesn’t bother to look back.

Suddenly, a giant rock palm comes up in front of him and knocks him down. The palm continues pushing him while he lies on the floor. He rolls out of the way and quickly stands with his back to her. When he turns around, dozens of water spheres are floating around her. The spheres part a bit to reveal Afearia holding Nebulous.

I thought her attack pattern was strange, the man thinks. She was just trying to distract me for a chance to summon another weapon. He looks at her sword. That blade is not one they’ve seen before. The water spheres fly at him one after another. He jumps over the first one as it splashes the floor. He runs toward her while dodging some of the spheres of water. When he gets in close by sidestepping the last sphere, he jumps up to kick her when a sudden realization hits him. Wait, something’s not right. Her attacks were highly inaccurate.

At the last second of his attack, she ducks under and pushes him forward from beneath his thigh. He smoothly flips in the air and lands back down. As the man rises up, he’s immediately surrounded by tiny spheres holding pebbles. “What the hell is this?” he says.

Afearia smirks. “Pebbles are small and barely worth looking at twice. Even if someone throws one at you, it’s still not a big deal. But if you’re hit hard enough, it could break skin. Even penetrate.” He looks at her with a shaky stern face. “After pushing you, I felt your metal defenses protect you. Seems it even activates against forces not meant to harm the body. I thought that was the situation, so I set the ending just in case. Now what would happen if you were to be hit from hundreds of different locations at high speed with no rest?” She raises her hand for hundreds of spheres to surround him. “It’s over.”

I get it now, he thinks with surprised eyes. She wasn’t aiming to kill me with any of those previous attacks. This is the real attack she was setting up. A double elemental strike… He balls his fist. “No! I won’t lose like this!”

He rushes at her with the spheres following him while maintaining the dome formation. He jumps and slides at her with great speed. All the metallic hardening fills his fist, graying his skin as he aims his strike for Afearia’s forehead. She quickly blocks it with her left hand as her arm slightly shakes to his strength.

“But, your wrist,” he says with wide eyes. “How can you defend with that hand?”

She gives him a cold glare. “I said—it’s over.” She grips tight on his hardened hand and pushes him up and away from her. “Begin!”

All the water pebble spheres are hitting his body with such speed and force that his body remains airborne while being unable to retaliate. For every hundred splatters, the remaining water gathers new pebbles to repeat the assault again.

Afearia slowly walks toward the bombarded man as he writhes and groans in the air. Droplets of blood hit her cheek from the rapid strikes against his skin. “When your body is forced to spread too thin,” with great speed, Afearia hurls Nebulous into his heart by doing a swift arm extension. The moment it pierced through, the colliding water pebbles stop. “Your rock-like defense becomes tin foil.”

With wide eyes, the water covered pebbles soon fall with his lifeless body following. The robed man watching her stands and creeps backward into the dark when the sound of suffering screams echo through the ruins. Afearia looks up, sniffing. What was that? she thinks. Whatever it was, the stronger scent is gone. Afearia dismisses her sword and approaches the massive generator.

]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:30:33 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/michelles-past

The sound of an alarm clock goes off, flashing 6 A.M. My small hand creeps from under the covers to shut it off. Even though my black hair’s short to the nap of my neck, every morning it would be a mess. I sat up looking like I’ve been riding around in a convertible. I got out of bed in my blue tank top and plaid green boxers.

Someone suddenly knocks roughly on the door. “Yes!” I shouted.

“General White wants to see Private White at 06:30.”

“Fine.” I let out a sigh of misery. “Okay, Michelle, it’s a new day. Get it together.”

During the mornings, I always had to prep myself for the worst. Because being a military brat was hard enough. But having your father as General was harder. My mother died at birth. I never knew much about her and I’m not looking for answers. She left me and that’s the end of the tale. Since young, I’ve been living in army dorms. This one consisting of thirty men, excluding me.

I had to shower and get ready to see the General. And unfortunately for me, living in an army dorm at a young age didn’t change the fact I still had to shower with the men. Seeing naked men isn’t something little girls should have to bear when they are more aware of gender anatomy.

I’ve always believed children shouldn’t be in the army. Children should be children. Loved and cared for. But my father pulled strings with his rank and war records. And as long as I make him look good, then he won’t punish me in highly cruel ways. But the scariest part was realizing the better I made him look, the better a solider I became… And I didn’t want that.

After my shower, I put on my army issued clothes. The jacket for a Private is bare and not impressive in the least. The lack of insignias is basically a constant reminder of how far you’ve got to go.

My uniform was a smoky gray jacket with four gold buttons and one additional button on my jacket shoulders. The collar was sharply pressed from my neck, to the top of my chest. My pants matched with my gray jacket’s color, tucked neatly in my black boots. Once dressed, I left the dorm to go see my fathe-the General.

I reluctantly walk toward the main building. It was the largest building on the base with five floors, excluding the basement. This pale grain colored building always gave me chills. For the fact that if you’re ever called here, you can bet it’s usually bad news. Ironically, it was a gloomy day with the smell of rain filling the air. I always found it bittersweet when the weather is reflecting how I am feeling inside.

I reached his office and knocked lightly. “Come in,” he calmly said. I opened the door and stood firmly with my hands to my side. Standing at the room’s windows with hands behind their back, tight lipping their cigar is the army General and his large desk of chastisement. “Close the door and have a seat.” I closed the door and sat down, trying to hide my nervous habits, occasionally looking to his mantle over the fireplace, bookshelves, or just staring down at the blue carpet.

The General was a fifty-six-year old man with a full head of gray hair. He has a muscular build to go with his thick neck and broad face. His skin was a bit red from years of screaming and pushing himself physically.

As General, he wore a special jacket to match his navy blue uniform. Underneath his jacket was a white collared shirt with a blue tie. On his epaulet were four silver stars on both his shoulders to distinguish his ranked honor. Metals, pins, ribbons, you name it. The man was a legend in the army.

“How may I help you, sir?” I asked.

He takes a few puffs before putting out his cigar. “I hear you’re failing the drill courses.”

“It’s complicated, sir. There’s this guy who sabotages me on the courses. And it’s not just—”

He turned to me and slammed his fist on his cluttered table. “Damn it, Michelle! What did I tell you!? I don’t want your damn excuses! Just results! When you let me down you ruin my credibility. I did a lot to get an eight-year-old girl in as a Private. In order for you to maintain a slot in the army you need to be flawless.”

“Dad, I—”

“Don’t call me, dad! You address me as General White!” He glared at me as he leans up and fixes his jacket before sitting down. “I’ve trained you since the day you were born. When babies are born they tend to grip their parent’s fingers. That’s how I trained your grip before you even knew how to talk. You had to grip my finger for thirty seconds at a time. If not, I would pop you on your arm or flick your nose.”

My eyes shift toward his mantel of trophies, pictures of soldiers, and my mother. The man never smiled in those pictures. But at least those soldiers and my mother got to take a picture with him. I’m not even up there. “I know,” I said before looking to him. “I’ve been in training as long as I can remember. Will that be all, General White sir?”

“Hmph.” He stood up and stepped toward his window. “It’s going to rain today. I plan to have the troops train indoors.”

“Then I shall get ready for the 07:00 training.”

“No. You know the deal when you make me look bad. You’re with me today.”

At 07:30 we went out in the rain. He was well protected from the rain in his dark blue rain poncho. I on the other hand was in my white tank top, green camouflage pants, and combat boots. He had me stand in the freezing rain for thirty minutes just to get things started.

“Okay, Private!” he shouted. “Drop down!” I began doing pushups in the mud till he kicked me in the stomach. “Did I tell you to start yet!? This is why you’re a failure! You don’t listen! As punishment,” He walked over to the drill course and removed a sandbag from the sandbag wall. “You will use this as motivation! Get into position and sound off till you hit a hundred!”

He drops the sandbag on my back. “One. Two. Three. Four—”

“I can’t hear you! Start over!” he said as he put his foot on my back.

“One! Two! Three! Four!”

When I finally hit a hundred, I collapsed. I was lying in the mud having chest and arm spasms while trying to hold back my tears. As I began to sink into the ground slowly drowning, my father lifts my head out the mud and screams in my ear. “Death is for quitters! You die on your own time!” He drags me by my hair and drops me in front of the drill course. I stood up exhausted, cold, and fairly dizzy. Everything was blurry. I wanted to give up.

“Daddy, I’m cold!” He back hands me to the ground without remorse.

“What’s that!? I can’t hear you when your face is in the mud!”

I stand back up with less balance than before. “General, I’m cold!”

“Good! That gives you reason enough to finish this six hundred foot course in the next one hundred eighty seconds! Move! And we won’t go inside till you can complete this fast enough!”

By 10:30 I was finally allowed to stop.

We returned to the main building where two passing soldiers salute his arrival before leaving. As cold as I clearly was, he didn’t even think of giving me a towel. It’s a miracle I didn’t catch pneumonia walking through those air-conditioned halls.

“Where are we going?” I asked as we passed his room.

“There’s someone I would like you to meet.”

I shook uncontrollably as we walked to the basement of the main building. We arrive at a small gym with weights, punching bags, speed bags, and a boxing ring in the middle.

A man comes from the side of the room wearing tan camouflage pants and a green tank top. For some reason, he had on thick sunglasses and a toothpick in his mouth while chewing tobacco like a goat.

“Private White, meet Master Sergeant Conner,” General White said.

He looks down at me while smacking his teeth. “Pleasure to meet you, Private White. I’ve heard very little about you. I hope you change that.”

“Master Sergeant Conner will be training you in hand-to-hand combat as your specialty. Do as you please, Master Sergeant. She’s all yours till 13:00.”

Conner walks General White to the door and shuts it behind him, locking me in. He puts his hands on his hips and turns his head to spit tobacco into a bucket by the door. “We’re going to have so much fun. I didn’t want to say anything in front of the General. but you do have a track record. The other Privates and higher-ups dislike you. I know, how cruel. You’re only eight after all. But that’s the problem. An eight-year-old with the right to be enlisted in the military is insulting. To make matters worse, you’re a girl. The only one in this male base. If you were older a lot of guys would probably rape you.”

“What’s rape?” I asked in a frightened tone.

“You wouldn’t understand. But if I showed you…” He ran his finger down the middle of my chest, all the way down to my pelvic bone. He then smells my wet hair, letting out an odd sound. Master Sergeant Conner smelled like crap on cigars. It was making my stomach turn. “So young, but already developing. I can’t wait till you’re sixteen. Then I could really train you.” Back then I didn’t know what he meant by that. But it still gave me chills.

He leans up from me. “Okay, Private White. I am going to teach you the basics of self-defense. If you get good enough, I will teach you foreign and forbidden fighting styles like Muay Thai and Combat Sambo.”

When the two and a half hours were up, he let me go to lunch. As much as I hated my life, it felt good to know some fighting moves to defend myself. But one day’s worth of training isn’t going to make me good enough to tackle my problems head on.

I changed into some dry clothes and went out to the lunchroom. When I got my tray and sat down to eat, one of the star Private First Class soldiers got too big for their minor title and began picking on me. “Hey, kid, give me your lunch,” he demanded.

I lean over my food. “No, this is my first meal.” Regardless, he tries taking my bread. “Get your hands away from my tray!” I swiped his hand away. But that only angered him. He retaliated by throwing my food on the floor.

“And as the dog of the military I guess you will have no problem eating off the floor. Hahaha!” This kind of thing happens all the time. But some days I just can’t take it.

I stood up. “Now you give me your lunch!”

He got up and pushed me to the floor. “Make me.”

I get up off the floor and started swinging at him without thinking. He just hopped around slapping me in the face while everyone else laughed. The second I stopped fighting wildly and focusing on his laughter, my lack of training kicked in. When he was about to slap me again, I grabbed his hand and twisted his wrist. He kneeled to the pain in his hand and tried to get out of the hold.

The room went silent for a moment. Then he pulled me into him and puts me in the full nelson. I was screaming so loud for anyone to help me. But instead, others joined in to punch me and slap me around. No one tried to help. All the higher-ups watched and laughed till Brigadier General Hank came through.

“Enough!” he shouted. The six men stopped and stood at attention. Even though I was beaten badly, I did the same out of respect. Brigadier General Hank wore a similar jacket to the General, except with less honors and one silver star on the shoulders of his epaulet. “Private White, come with me to my office.” We walked out the lunchroom and went to his office. I sat across from him while he just stared at my bruised face.

“I hear you’ve finally completed the drill course and are now receiving specialty training from Master Sergeant Conner. Congratulations. That deserves a promotion.” I was speechless at my sudden promotion. There was even a bit of pride I felt for it. “You will now be referred to as Private First Class. Who knows, maybe if you keep up the good work you could become a specialist in the next few months. Continue to rise through the ranks and become your father’s number two.”

“Thank you, Brigadier General. I will head back to lunch now.”

“I don’t think so, Private. By changing your clothes, it made you late for lunch. It’s 13:30, time to do paintball training in the fields with Sergeant Ron.”

“Yes, sir,” I saluted before turning to leave.

As I open the door, he calls me. “Private? Try ducking next time,” he said while pointing to his eye.

I lightly touch my bruise. “Yes, sir.” I walked out the room and down the hall to practice. This was routine. Get beat up and get back to training. But I still had six hours to go before I have momentary relief.

The day finally came to an end after my second round with Master Sergeant Conner. I felt so weak and sore when I returned to my dorm. I took a shower and got ready for bed. We lined up at the foot of our beds till one of the higher-ups would come by and yell, “lights out!” and flip the switch.

I fell into my bed feeling so tired. The second I started to close my eyes, I was pummeled by pillowcases filled with bars of soap. “Goodnight, General’s daughter. Hahaha!” One of the men said.

They all laughed and walked back to their beds cracking jokes and throwing stuff at me. When they finally started to settle down, I turned over and quietly cried myself to sleep… like most nights.

My alarm goes off the next morning at the same time as always. I’m over a week into my training and I was progressing quickly. Master Sergeant Conner was now teaching me forbidden techniques. But I was sadly having a hard time with my Aikido. “Come on! We’ve been at this for over an hour already and you still don’t got it,” Master Sergeant Conner said. “Get it together, worm!”

“I’m sorry!” I shouted.

“Stop saying sorry and flip me!”

“But you’re too big to flip like you’re flipping me.”

“Worm! Aikido is all about self-defense while using your opponent’s movements against them. One more time! When I throw my punch, you catch my arm and pull me down to your height. Then you grip the back of my collar and swing me to the ground without letting go. After that, you lift me halfway back onto my feet and smash your forearm into my neck. Then finish by flipping me onto my side. If done right, you could make your opponent dizzy, stunned, or knock them unconscious. Now, are you ready?”

This was a more violent variation of Aikido then I’ve once read. And I had no confidence in that long combo he asked of me. He ran toward me throwing a single punch. I was scared to do anything, so he hit me in the face, dropping me to the mat. “Pathetic worm! Get your stuff and get out!”

I grabbed my bag and left the basement with my head held low.

On my way back to my dorm, one of my bunkmates tripped me. “Nice black and blue, grunt.”

“Why? Why? Why do you guys keep doing this to me? I’m only eight years old!” I said while lying on the ground getting ready to cry again.

He picks me up by my neck and pokes me in the chest. “Exactly. It’s because you’re ten years younger than some of us and yet the General thinks it’s okay to have a child, his child be in the army. You will never be respected by us. You’re just a little girl. But you know what? When you get older try becoming a stress reducing specialist.” He takes me and mushes his crotch in my face.

He drops me to the ground and walks away laughing. Always with the laughing. They would always mock me, insult me, then beat me. And the damn laughing. That was the last straw. I was completely fed up with the cruelty they kept pushing on me. At that moment, something came over me. And for the second time, I attempted to stand my ground. “Fuck you, shithead.”

He turned around with a look of confused anger. “What did you say?”

I stumbled to my feet, shaking out of fear and adrenaline. “I said—fuck you shithead!”

“Okay, bitch. Here we go.”

He walks up to me and throws a punch toward my head. Without second thought, the move I had been trying to learn in training finally sunk in. I grappled his arm and slammed him to the ground. I lifted him up to his knees and smashed my knee into his nose. As he lied on his back, I grabbed his hands and snapped both his wrist. Two other men came my way and I did a double Kote-Gaeshi. A reverse wrist throw technique.

As the other men stood back, amazed at what I have accomplished, a faint clapping was heard within the crowd. To my surprise, it was Master Sergeant Conner. “Congratulations, soldier. You have successfully used advance and basic Aikido moves on your opponents. See me tomorrow and we will continue your training,” he said before walking past me.

While the other men picked up their fallen comrades, I stood there in pure amazement. I felt like a new person. No longer would I allow anyone to pick on me because of my gender or age. With this newfound confidence I would demand the respect that I deserve.

And I did.

In three and a half years, I went from Private First Class, to First Lieutenant. I was known as the fastest career advancing soldier in history. This high honor came with perks and a new standard I had to hold myself to.

My new uniform jacket was green with a silver bar on the shoulders to represent my new rank. It matches my light green overblouse that I closed up top with a green neck tab. My green pants complimented my well polished black shoes. I even grew my hair out a bit to reach a little past my shoulders. But when I am on duty I have my hair wrapped and folded at the back with a clip to hold it in place.

My days started at seven. I was now living in the main building with less restrictions and more pay. Even had my own room. Things were good.

Being a First Lieutenant meant I showed great leadership abilities. It was the first time in our army’s history that an eleven-year-old girl was First Lieutenant.

My specialty remained hand-to-hand combat. On the rare chances I was given a vacation, I would travel around to learn new fighting techniques and improve on the ones I already knew. That became my idea of vacation. Even the once obvious displeasure of being a soldier was a thing of the past. Being a good soldier became meaningful to me. It became everything. The amount of pride I held for being a First Lieutenant was my high. I was molded. Until…

My job was to lead a set group of troops on a daily bases. I was authorized to conduct combat training, drill runs, escorting practice, weapon training, and other practices. Today I was ordered by the General to train some new recruits at the outdoor endurance course.

“Okay, maggots!” I screamed. “Attention!” At my command, those boys put their hands at their sides and faced forward. I slowly walk in front of the troops with my hands behind my back. “Some of you may already know of me. But for those of you who don’t. I am First Lieutenant White. Today I am going to test your endurance and—” I was rudely interrupted by an ill-mannered soldier. “What are you laughing at, Private Wallace!?”

“No offense,” he chuckled. “But you do know you’re a little girl, right? I mean, is this some kind of joke?” He laughs a little more, gauging the reaction of his peers. They did not laugh or crack a smile. They knew better.

I walked around him and kicked him in the back of his leg. Once he collapsed, I wrapped my arm around his neck while applying pressure to his spine. “I don’t know, Private. You tell me. Let this be a lesson to all of you. You all will address me as Lieutenant, got it!? The next time any one of you address me as little girl, I will stop your fucking heart and ship your sorry ass back home in a box! And believe me. This is not a bluff.”

I began squeezing his neck more till he passed out. “Everyone who is conscious, line up behind the white line by the sandbags,” I ordered. “Good. At the sound of my gun, I want all of you to try and complete this course within six minutes.”

I fired my gun and they all raced off into the course. Six minutes in, my troops hit the third tire obstacle and the slowest, fattest soldier was knocking all the tires down the hill toward the edge of the forest. I blew my whistle.

“Hey, fat-ass! Go run laps around the base till you’re thirty pounds lighter! The rest of you go meet with Sergeant Powers! You are all great disappointments! Get out of here!” As my troops jogged away, I collected the missing tires, taking longer than I would have liked.

When I was about to retrieve the last one, I hear someone trying to get my attention. “Psst, hey.”

“What the fuck?” I hear rustling and jumped back with my gun drawn. “Who’s there!?”

A little boy came out from behind a tree with a cheesy smile. His red shorts were beyond filthy with that gross gray shirt. On his feet were holey socks and poorly constructed straw sandals. “Um, I’m Jason,” he said, messing with his scruffy brown hair. “I was watching you train those soldiers and I was amazed to see—”

“Where the hell are your parents?” I threatened.

“Can you lower your gun please? You’re scaring me,” he frowned.

“Where the fuck are your parents, intruder!?” He falls to the ground and starts crying very loudly. I didn’t know what to do. All I knew is that I had to shut him up somehow. So I slapped him. “Get a hold of yourself! Men don’t cry!”

“Waaahhh, I’m not a man! I’m not a man! I’m only nine! Waaaahhhh!”

“Shut up before I take you in the woods and blow your fucking brains out!”

“Oh no, please don’t kill me! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Waahhh!” He jumped onto me and started squeezing me tight.

For a skinny boy, he had me locked. “Let go of me!” I managed to get him off, but he already soiled me. “Ewww, you dirtied my jacket and left handprints on my ass! You perverted little brat!”

“Wait! There’s a spring not far from here. I can show you.”

“No way! I’m not going anywhere with you!”

Above the hill I can hear Captain Simmers calling me. “Lieutenant White! Lieutenant White!”

“Grr, damn loudmouth. I need some time off. Fine, prev. I will go with you. But only because I can’t be seen in a dirty uniform.”

We ran off into the forest till we reached the spring he spoke of. The surrounding area was so beautiful. It had fresh green grass everywhere with flowers of all kinds and colors. There was a half fallen tree with moss on its bark by the crystal clear spring. It looked so heavenly compared to everything else around it.

I washed my pants and placed them on a boulder to be sundried. I sat on a smaller boulder while hand scrubbing my jacket. When I looked across from me I noticed once again how dirty this boy was. His olive toned skin was being ruined by the repulsive dirt on his body. “I don’t get it. Why are you so dirty?”

“Because I’m a runaway orphan. It’s hard to stay clean when you live in the woods.”

“Oh, so you’re parentless. Even though you have no home, you have this spring. So why don’t you use it?”

“I didn’t get the chance to. This is all one day’s dirt.”

“Yuck! Boys are pigs.”

“Yeah well, girls are gross. Mehhhh!”

“You idiot. This isn’t a contest to see who has the most insults. I’ve lived with boys all my life and it’s a known fact that you’re all under kempt pigs.”

“Oh yeah!? Well uh, you smell weird.”

“If you’re talking about my perfume, then yes I do smell good. Which is more than I can say about you.” Without warning, the boy splashes water in my face. He laughed while I remained shocked and unamused. “How—how dare you!? I am a Lieutenant! You better treat me with more respect.”

“I don’t even know what that means, boogerface!” he said before sticking his tongue out at me.

“Boogerface!? I’ll have you know—” He splashes more water in my face. I threw my jacket down and started to chase him around the spring till he fell and scraped his knee.

“Owwe! My knee, my knee! I think I broke it! Owe!”

“Stop your howling it’s not broken.” I dragged him to the spring and began to thoroughly rinse out his wound. I cut off the sleeve of my overblouse with my knife and wrapped it around his knee. “There. Feels better?”

“A little. My mom used to kiss my boo-boos,” he said while sniffling.

I stand up to go get my jacket and tie it around my waist. “Well I’m not your mommy.”

“But you’re my friend! And friends help each other!”

I looked into his big brown eyes and felt something in me that I thought died long ago… happiness. “Sure… Friends help friends.” I kneeled down and softly kissed his wound. I look up and saw him blushing. “You perv! Your face is all red!”

“Huh!? No! Yours is too!”

“What!? Oh no, I must be getting sick! You and your damn water games!” Suddenly, his stomach growls. “Are you hungry?”

“I haven’t eaten in two days. I already ran out of the food I stole.”

I smiled and stood up to brush my knees. “I’ll teach you how to hunt and gather in the wild.” Several hours later, we were roasting a bunny that was stuffed with edible berries.

“You killed it, you killed it!” he cried.

“Please shut up. It was either you eating or starvation. Gosh, haven’t you ever heard of survival of the fittest? I can’t believe you’re crying because you get to eat.” While keeping the fire burning, I noticed my wristwatch. “Oh crap! It’s 15:00 hours! If the General writes me off as AWOL I’m screwed!” I jump up. “I have to go!”

I began running off till he grabbed me. “Will I ever see you again, Lieutenant?”

I knew I shouldn’t have. But I couldn’t resist. For the first time in my life I was actually having fun. “Sure thing, Jason. And please, call me, Michelle. Meet me every day at the edge of the woods, okay? Bye,” I said before running off.

“Bye—Michelle.”

I made it back to the base unseen. But in the end, I put myself in trouble. “Lieutenant!” I was spotted by Captain Simmers. “The General requested your presence hours ago! It was announced on the horn!”

“Relax, Captain Simmers. I’ll go later.”

“This is an order, First Lieutenant White.”

It was then that I knew my father was pissed. I went to his office right away. When I opened the door, there he was. Standing by his window puffing his cigar. “Have a seat, Lieutenant.” I calmly take a seat. “We missed you today. We had to welcome in the new troops.”

“That was today?”

“Yes. You also neglected to finish drilling your squad. Master Sergeant Conner found a half dead fat kid at the edges of the base. When he came to, he said you told him to jog till he was thirty pounds lighter?”

“Well, I figured he would stop if he didn’t hear from me within the hour.”

“He was following orders, Lieutenant. What’s wrong with you? It’s not like you to neglect your duties and almost get written up.”

“General White, you have my deepest apologize. I ensure you it won’t happen again. Will that be all, sir?”

“Take your leave.”

When I left his office, I realized something. I really wasn’t all that concerned about how I messed up today. The only thing on my mind was how great it was to finally go a day without doing as I’m told.

A week later, I was still visiting Jason whenever I could. I even started getting up at six in the morning again so I could spend more time with him. Even though we were just kids, I was still falling for him in a childish manner.

It was one of my rare days off and I was wearing something no one in the army has ever seen me wear before. It was a red and white striped sundress I got long ago because I thought it was cute. That morning, I was walking around the base carrying an army bag.

Just before I reached the drill courses, I ran into Sergeant Arnolds. “Whoa! If it isn’t First Lieutenant White in a dress. What’s the occasion?”

 “No occasion. Just leaving the base for a little. I’ll be back before sundown.”

“Okay, so long.” I thought I was careful. I even watched him turn the corner before I went into the woods. But I wasn’t careful enough. It turned out he saw me enter the woods and got on his communicator. “Captain Simmers. Come in, Captain Simmers.”

“What is it, Sergeant?”

“Didn’t the General want to know why Lieutenant White was neglecting her duties? I think I’m on to something. Come to the training grounds with the General. Over and out. Heh, you should have behaved yourself little girl,” he chuckled.

I made my way through the forest and reached the clearing. But I didn’t see Jason by the spring. “Jason! Jason! Jason, where are you?” He leaps out from behind a rock, scaring me half to death. “Ahhh! What the hell are you doing!?”

“I missed you,” he chuckled. “So I wanted to surprise you.”

“That’s not how you surprise a lady, you clown! Anyway, I brought you something.”

“Really? Thanks!”

As I put down the bag, he smiles at me. “What?”

“You look very pretty today.”

I looked down and felt my face become flushed. “Thank you,” I said under my breath. “Umm, I brought you something.” I opened the bag to show him socks, boots, and camouflage pants with a dark green tank top.

“Cool! Thank you, Michelle!”

“You’re welcome. Go wash up and put them on.”

“Uh, maybe later. Like after you leave.”

“Oh, come on. What are you so worried about?”

“You’re a girl! You might see my wee-wee.”

“Stop being a baby! I’ve seen hundreds of penises. Now get clean for me because I came clean for you.” I chased him for a while till I managed to remove his dirty old shirt and socks. “Stop running! You’re acting like a child!”

“I am a child! I’m nine, remember!? Besides, you’re a child too, so what’s your point!?” I stopped and fell to my knees gazing at the grass. “Michelle? Michelle, are you okay? I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings… Michelle?” When he came near me, I jumped up and tackled him into the spring.

“Now I’m going to clean you good!” He screamed through the whole bath. As for me? I laughed. I had actually laughed. I laughed the whole time with sheer joy in my heart.

After his bath, we played a few games of tag, tic-tac-toe, and leap frog. He had to teach me how to play all three since I never played any of those games before. The sun was starting to go down while we lay in the grass to watch the clouds pass us by. “Before—you called me a child. But you said it to me as us being equals. You didn’t say it to hurt me. It was nice, Jason. Thank you.”

He smiles at me then frowns a little. “Michelle, how come you don’t know any kid games and act so grown up?”

“Well… hmm. This is tough. Uh, as you know I’m from the military base not far from here. My dad is the General of that base. I’ve been living there for as long as I can remember. I’ve never realized it till now but I have spent my entire childhood around adults. I never truly had the chance to be a kid. My father’s idea of a good time was me running laps around the base while having a sandbag strapped to my back. Jason, it means a lot to me that you taught me something I thought I would never experience in my life. And that’s being a kid.”

I looked him in the eyes. He looked so adorable. He only understood some of what I said. That cute confused puppy stare he was giving me was not something I could turn from. I innocently gave him a quick peak on the lips. We turned so red! I got up feeling so happy and embarrassed before impulsively darting into the woods. “See you tomorrow morning!” I shouted as I blended into the trees.

I reached the edge of the woods and looked around. I thought no one was in the area, so I ran up the hill to the main building. Little did I know, the General, the Captain, and the Sergeant were watching me return. “And there is your answer, General White,” Sergeant Arnolds said. “There’s something in those woods that keeps her distracted.”

General White takes a breath. “You two go back to work. I will handle this. And neither of you breathe a word of this to anyone.”

The next morning, I was called to do so many things for my father that I was over four hours late for meeting Jason. I had very little time since I was ordered to retrain all the failed troops. I didn’t even have time to pretty it up for him like I usually do.

I went to the training site and looked around for any passing soldiers before slipping into the woods unseen. When I reached the clearing, I saw Jason dressed in my military’s army uniform. He was dressed like a Private with his hair combed neatly to the side. “Jason? Why are you wearing that?”

He faces me. “Great, you’re just in time. Ahem. Michelle, in these past few weeks I’ve spent with you I’ve realized you are nothing more than—a child!” I was startled and hurt beyond belief. Devastation was shaking me to my very core.

“Jason… Why are you talking to me like this?”

“Shut up, kid! If I wanted your opinions I would beat it out of you!”

“Stop it, you're making me cry!”

“Soldiers don’t cry! Now drop down and give me fifty!” I just stood there, unable to respond. “You refuse? Then I will have to make you eat dirt, maggot!” He picked up a rock and threw it at me. It hits the corner of my forehead and I drop to the ground.

I shakily lifted my head off the ground when I feel blood coming down. I touched it with my trembling fingers. “Oh,” I said in a whimper. “Jason, how—?” I hear him step closer. Out of anger and fear, I jumped up and pulled out my gun. “Jason, stop it! Why are you hurting me like this! I just wanted a friend! Why!? Why!? Why!?” I shouted tearfully.

“Stop your damn screaming before I rip your throat out! For your disobedience, you owe me thirty laps. Now come here!”

He began speed walking toward me as I creep away with my gun pointed at him. My hands were so shaky I could barely maintain my aim. “Jason, stay back! Stop! Or I’ll—I’ll. I’ll shoot!”

“Little girls can’t use guns! This is how you use a gun!” He digs inside of his coat, reaching for his gun.

“Jason! Nooooo!” I fired mines before he could shoot his. I was so upset by his actions, I shot him with my eyes closed. When the echoing shot faded with the flapping of fleeing birds, I slowly opened my eyes.

He stood there with eyes filled shock and pain. “Michelle—why would you—do that?” He falls to the ground and I rush to his side. I look over him, crying, as we cried together. He continued to go through his coat and pulls out a bundle of snapdragon flowers.

“Jason? What—?”

“I just wanted to show you how much I cherished our time together.”

“Jason, why!? Why did you do all those awful things!?”

“Your dad came by. He said you were an actress that always stayed in character. He said you would be—so happy if I acted out a scene with you.”

“But I was crying and bleeding and begging you to stop!”

“He said if you cried or bleed that it was special effects. Like he showed me—during practice.” He looked up at me with his big eyes and quivering lips. “Michelle, I’m cold. You really shot me? Why did you use a real—?” His body slowly slouches to one side.

“Jason… Jason, no!” I begged while shaking him. “Jason, hang on! I can get you help!” I shook him harder with each failed attempt to get his attention. “Jason! Jason, please don’t die! Jason, please, Jason, don’t leave me alone! Arrgghhhhahaha!” I began to cry uncontrollably in his dead chest, screaming for him to come back.

I must have laid there for hours. Snuggled close to his dead body, unable to accept what took place. After a while, it began to rain. I stayed there for the rest of the day to dig a grave for him with my bare hands. I was still unable to stop my tears. Every time my cries would slow, my face would heat up and I’d fall apart all over again.

By the time I was done, night had fallen and my pain still dug into me like a fishhook. Even the angels were crying for me. Before I left, I placed the once-white but now blood drenched snapdragons on his grave. I placed my army jacket neatly over the dirt mound and wiped my face. I tucked my gun into the back waist of my pants and slowly began walking out the woods, traumatized as could be.

When I got out and stood at the top of the hill, all I could think about was the pain and how my father caused all of it. I walked at a slow pace through that heavy rainfall and the muffled sounds of army men. My feet took me where I wanted to be. The General’s building.

The lights shined so brightly on such a hideous place. I entered the building and went straight to my father’s office. I turn into his office to find him not there. I stood over his desk to see if he scheduled where he would be. While reading through the dripping wet blinds of my hair, I overheard a couple soldiers talking about my father’s location.

I left that den of nightmares and walked lifelessly to the basement. I went down those flights of stairs and I saw him working out with most of the lights off. He was jump roping in the ring with his back to the door, wearing his workout gear. I stopped at the doorway just watching him before I spoke out. “Father—why?”

He stops jumping and turns his head halfway to me. “It’s good to see you, First Lieutenant White. Where have you been all day?”

“Why?”

“Why what? Don’t you mean when?”

“When?”

“Yes. When. Like, when did I get suspicious that something has changed my soldier? Or should I say, when did I find out about little Jason?”

“You told him lies. You made him… You lied to him father.”

“Lieutenant White, didn’t you find it odd I had you so busy this morning that you could barely think without being interrupted? You should have. I used that time to go into the woods where I saw you leave from last night. And guess what I found? A little orphan boy who went by the name, Jason. After I introduced myself, he put together I was your father. He innocently told me about all the fun you’ve been having and all the things you told him. But the fact my own daughter would betray me like this required immediate action.”

My father’s reasons were only fueling the silent storm in me. “So I told little Jason a story,” he continued. “A story about you being an actress that never likes to get out of character until her role was complete. I told him, anytime you weren’t acting like you were from the military, you were sad at heart. He decided he wanted to help you become a big star. So I gave him lines he could read to you off the top of his head while you improvised. He questioned what if you got mad or cried. I told him it’s all part of the act. Like this.”

He pulls out a small red tube of food coloring and flicks it at my forehead. “So if the boy saw any blood from you he would easily assume you’re still acting.” He folds the rope in his hands. “I told him I would inform you ahead of time so you wouldn’t be surprised. I even told him you would come dressed in uniform while using a toy gun to enhance the role. It had to be done, Lieutenant.”

“Father? Because of your cruel joke I thought he was serious and I killed him.”

“I thought that could happen. In fact, I hoped.” He turns to me. “How dare he try to fuck up my nearly perfect war machine?”

“Is that all I am to you? Your damn war machine!? Father, he was my friend! And you tricked me into killing him!”

“I didn’t trick you. Why do you think you killed him so easily? Because it’s in you now. You’re a killer. I staged that whole encounter perfectly while foreseeing all your next moves. You think I didn’t know the pains you suffered? The loneliness and the bully you endured? I knew. And allowed it because I knew it would make you colder. Stronger. Sharper. My perfect little soldier built to fight and nothing more. How do you think I felt when I found out my machine was out there learning how to feel, to care, and to be generous? I was devastated! Devastated! You’re my machine! Mine! Mine!”

As tears rolled down my emotionless face, it was then I learned how my father truly thought of me. I wanted to know how he felt for so long… And this was the painful truth I so desperately wanted to see. I was nothing more than his battle tool.

“Father, I lost someone dear to me today. And that was the trust and true companionship of a real friend.” My hand slowly goes behind my back. “Father? Did you know once a machine develops self-awareness,” I pointed my gun at him and shot him point-blank in between the eyes. “They never go back to being someone else’s toy. Congratulations. You’ve built the ultimate fighting machine.”

 I dropped my gun and took my leave. But not before I slaughtered every soldier in that place and burned that damn building to the ground. That was the day I closed my heart to others and opened my heart to darkness.

Nine years later, I was found by Derexen. He sat me down saying he seeks out dark beings like me to create a new world. And I thought to myself, what do I got to lose? But that was all before I met you… Demeseus…

]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:29:45 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/afearia-vs-glenn-the-gunslinging-prodigy

Shortly after the building has been emptied, Veronica wakes up in a startled cold sweat. She looks around the room and exhales. She gets up and grabs the water-filled pitcher off the cart. Veronica dumps the water in the bathroom sink and silently leaves the room to get more ice from the machine.

Before she can close the door, Glenn comes slowly from around the corner with a gunblade lined across his shoulder. The unique weapon is a single-edged blade with a strong curve at the tip. The weapon’s hilt is the end of a silver revolver with a black rubber grip and no barrel.

Veronica moves back into the room and watches him through the reflection on the pitcher. He proceeds her way while humming a daunting tune with ominous intent. She softly closes the door and rushes to wake everyone.

“Adrian,” she says in a loud whisper. “Adrian? Brother, wake up.”

He rubs his eyes. “What, Veronica? I’m—”

“Adrian, it’s them,” she says with panic. “We have to run, now.”

His eyes widen before he jumps out the bed and follows his sister into the bedroom. They barge into Afearia’s room and jump to her bed, shaking her.

“Anya, Anya,” Adrian stresses. “Anya, get up!”

Glenn moves closer with every rhythmic step to match his humming. He calmly enters room 514 and walks into the second bedroom. He stands before the room’s wall and tilts his head from side to side. Glenn begins moving his hand in front of him, as if to be measuring something. He raises his blade slowly and cocks it back into a one-handed piercing stance with his humming reaching an extended high pitched tone.

With one mighty thrust, Glenn pulverizes the wall. He flies over the bed Afearia’s supposed to be sleeping in and impales the mattress, sliding a little on small debris. He turns back into the room and pulls out his sword with a confused look. He looks around and sees a hole in the wall of the main room.

Glenn slowly enters the room while noticing everything’s still on. Without warning, Afearia bursts from the floor, smashing her palm into his cheek and sending him through the ceiling. She lands gracefully in the room while small debris falls to the floor.

The kids look up from the fourth floor. “Whoa!” Adrian says. “Nice one!”

“Leave the building, now,” Afearia says down the hole.

“Huh?”

“I can’t protect you this time. Leave the building and don’t come back.”

Veronica becomes worried. “But, Anya—”

“Did you not hear me? Get out of here!”

They quickly scramble to the door while Afearia summons Demonweaver. Suddenly, Glenn’s humming begins again in the darkness. With each step, the humming moves toward the front door and stops. A loud crash takes place outside the door before the resumption of his tune. She takes a couple steps back once his humming ends.

Without warning, the door flies out at her. Through instinct, she cuts the door vertically down the middle. The two halves part to her sides with the unhooded, Glenn, perfectly pressed against the door half to her right. As the halves revolve around her, he quickly rolls around Afearia and slashes her back.

Afearia stumbles forward from the attack and hops frontward before turning to him. Shortly after turning, he closes the gap between them and punches her in the face. Afearia’s back slams up against the door across the hall and falls on her bottom.

She looks at him with a face of angry astonishment while he continues to hum with a rhythmic dance in his step. Unbelievable, Afearia thinks. I’m bleeding. For the first time on Terra, I’m bleeding from the hands of pathetic Demi trash!

“If I were you,” Glenn says, bouncing his index finger like he’s about to lecture her. “I would remove that eye patch. Or I’m gonna keep abusing your blind spot, time, after time again.” She gives him a more frustrated look. “I already know you have two functional eyes. Use em.”

She rips off the eye patch and stands. “Who are you?”

He steps over to the TV and turns it off before putting his hand on the flower vase on the dresser. “Glenn.”

He hurls the vase at her head. Afearia ducks low and dashes forward, moments before he kicks the fallen pitcher on the floor at her. She leans to the side near the wall and before she can lean off, he strikes with his sword. Afearia blocks his one-handed sword swing with her own and is pinned. He’s utilizing the environment to his fullest, she thinks.

“Nice reflexes,” he says earnestly. “I didn’t getcha this time.” His face becomes a little stern. “Stop toying with me.”

Afearia smirks. “Alright then.”

Suddenly, several chains burst from the wall and wrap around a floor lamp. When she tosses the lamp at him, he quickly jumps back. She seizes the moment and starts slashing at Glenn. With each strike, he sloppily blocks her blade before jumping through the hole she put in the wall. Instead of following him, she runs out into the hall and stands in front of room 518. Suddenly, Glenn’s blade comes through the door, aimed at her face. As the blade comes at her, she tilts her head to the side and shoves her blade through the door as well.

Afearia slowly pulls back her sword, cautiously waiting for his next move. I didn’t puncture any flesh, she thinks. I need to be careful. He fights with a strange future sight style by forcing his opponents to charge first so he can easily predict their next move. With smooth speed, Afearia stabs the door a second time. In this fight, haste makes waste.

With his blade, Glenn quickly carves an irregular shaped hole high up on the door. Suddenly, a grenade drops through the hole.

“Are you kidding me!?” Afearia shouts.

She releases her sword and rushes down the door behind her. She enters the room and runs into the next room before jumping out the window backward. Afearia shoots a chain down her arm and wraps it around a bedpost.

She swings and crashes through the third floor window, a second before the grenade explodes. The floors above her briefly shake as she slowly stands and moves toward the front door. When she nears the door, something catches her nose. His scent’s gone, she thinks.

Within the same moment of thought, three large blue light rings come spinning together from behind her before flying apart and revealing Glenn. She turns around and receives a shallow slash down her forearm.

She grabs her dripping arm and stumbles back. “You warped,” Afearia says with irritation.

Glenn lowers his blade. “Damn, I miscalculated your location.”

“How annoying it is to know you can popup anywhere you want in this fight.”

“If only it were that simple. Our warp tactics can only be done when moving to locations we’ve been to from memory. Each warp takes two percent of our overall energy levels. It’s the main reason why Derexen has us only warp five times a day if possible. Very few Demis utilize warping as a fighting method.” She raises her hand and summons Demonweaver from upstairs. “Why do you keep using that powerless sword against me? Use that other one, the water sword.”

Afearia’s briefly surprised. They’re collecting data on me, she thinks

Afearia grunts with a stern expression. She slowly waves her hand over her face and down to her knees, causing a light breeze before rushing toward him. She charges at Glenn with the wind slightly lifting her off the ground. With her increased speed, Glenn is taken by surprise and shoulder rushed into the next room.

When he hits the floor, she leaps up to stab him. He leans from the blade’s trajectory and kicks Afearia in the chin as he flips backward onto his feet. She pulls out her sword and rushes him once more.

When their blades collide, she muscles him halfway out the window. He groans when the broken shards sticking from the frame cut into his back. Glenn grabs her face and loses grip as she pulls away. He sticks his arm out the window and grabs the side of the building before tightly wrapping his legs around her. Glenn loudly grits through his teeth as he lifts Afearia off the floor and tosses her out the window.

As she falls down with hotel residents watching, she fires a chain into the second floor window to pull her in. Glenn sees her entering the room at a high angle and stabs the floor. He quickly pulls a heavy wardrobe onto his sword. The blade enters the room with most of the gun portion between the third and second floor. Afearia’s shoulder is slashed upon entry before she rolls across the floor with her chains roughly retracting.

Glenn ties a set of joined bed sheets to a radiator and swings into the second floor window. He sees Afearia on the floor holding her shoulder and flicks three evenly spaced microbombs around his sword. They make a weak explosion with enough force to dislodge it from the ceiling and back into his hand.

Afearia stands holding Demonweaver in her bad arm. “Bastion, appear!” she says, summoning Bastion. Glenn bunches his brow in curiosity. Tightly gripped, she holds Bastion high over her head. “Dust Shatter!”

Glenn charges at her, moments before she slams down her sword, shaking the building. The floor collapses with her and Glenn falling all the way into the lobby. The residents outside quickly scramble for distance, seconds before the impacting shockwave shatters the lobby windows and glass doors. Instead of leaving the area, the residents stay to watch the rest of the fight.

Glenn sits up from the rubble looking raddled until he quickly does a back roll onto his feet, dodging the hurled Bastion. Speeding from around the pile of debris is Afearia wielding Demonweaver.

The two of them engage in sword combat when Glenn’s suddenly cut vertically on his shoulder. Though surprised, he clashes again and tries to counter one of her strikes only to end up receiving another slash across his stomach. With the sweep of his sword, Afearia ducks and spins around him before slashing Glenn across his back, causing him to stumble.

“It’s as I thought,” she says haughtily. “Your swordsmanship is crap. It’s your ability to use your surroundings that makes you tough.” She stands straight and faces him. “But now that we’re in an open space, you can’t top me.”

Afearia bolts toward him once more. To the best of his ability, Glenn continues to sloppily block her sword strikes until she deflects his blade upward and shoulder rushes him into a cabinet against the wall. She charges in ready to pierce her blade through his chest when suddenly, Glenn pulls the hammer of the gun, releasing the blade to the floor and revealing a small hidden barrel. He immediately takes aim and fires off a shot in between her shoulder joint.

She soars halfway across the room and drops her sword moments before hitting the floor. Afearia rolls around, grunting and briefly screaming through the pain. Glenn breathes heavily while keeping his finger on the trigger. “Damn,” he says while catching his breath. He lowers his gun and stands straight

As Glenn slowly approaches Afearia, Adrian and Veronica run to her side. “Anya!” they shout.

Glenn stops and looks toward the shattered entrance of the lobby. “Too many civilians,” he says in a low voice. “This could cause casualties.” He points to the hotel clerk outside. “You did a poor job clearing out the area! Now I have to withdraw under the mayor’s agreement.”

Afearia is shocked by his words. The mayor? she thinks.

“Anya, are you okay?” Veronica asks.

Afearia pushes her hand away. “Get off me,” she says before standing, holding her near shattered joint. “That was very underhanded, Glenn. I should’ve known it was more than a unique hilt design. As expected from Demi scum.”

Glenn walks back to his blade and reconnects it to his gun. “Swordplay was never my specialty. Back before I joined the new regime, I was in a special unit called F.L.U.X. As a standard requirement, each member had to become familiar with the use of all kinds of combative weapons. Although this isn’t my specialty, I’ve dabbled in the art of sword fighting. For now, I’ll call this a respectable draw.”

He turns to leave when a couple chains wrap around his ankle. “Where do you think you’re going?” Afearia says with an angry glare. “This is not over.”

“This fight is done, my enemy. I can’t involve innocent lives just to fulfill government orders.”

“As if you care about the people!” Adrian shouts.

“Adrian, stop,” Veronica says.

Glenn turns to them. “I serve to protect the people of Terra.” He points to Afearia. “And that girl you’re coddling—is a threat to this world. Want proof of her past endeavors? If you start from the beginning of her trail at Armport, and move to where she is now, Afearia has done more harm than good.” He looks to Afearia. “I’m sure the people of Woodhaven wish she never stepped foot in their town.”

Afearia grunts. “You’re a liar!” Adrian shouts. “She’s the hero, you’re the villain!” Glenn briefly stares at him before tossing a glossy flyer at their feet. Adrian picks it up and sees a picture of Yadee on it with a list of tour dates and locations. “But why would you guys go to her concert?”

“Look at the bottom.” Adrian and Veronica look at the bottom of the flyer with stunned faces. “Villains don’t supply protection to those who make better victims. Since the last concert of Yadee being stabbed in a non-vital area, she has hired governmental protection.” He looks toward Afearia. “I suppose our hands will be too full to bother with you. But do me a favor and make my job easy by behaving until we can free up some agents. I don’t need a careless woman like you on the loose while I’m indisposed.”

Adrian makes a disgruntle sound. “This is a trick. I bet you guys are going to be the ones to harm, Yadee. I bet Yadee’s bait to get a large group of people under your control.”

Glenn gives him a confused stern expression. “You’re wrong. That is not what the government is for. If there’s someone from the government harming the public masses on purpose, you should report this to the king. Our job is to ensure life, not end it.” As he turns to walk, he’s tugged by the unreleased chains. “Seriously? Are we really going to fight here and kill this many people?”

Afearia stares at his back for a long time before unwillingly releasing the chains from his ankle. Glenn continues to walk into the crowd until suddenly stopping. “By the way. My maneuver wasn’t dirty. My battle title is ‘Gunslinging Prodigy’. All I did was play into my strengths. You should try it sometime.” He proceeds through the crowd and out into the streets.

Afearia stands. “Are you alright?” Veronica asks again.

Afearia looks down at the kids before looking at the crowd. “I’m fine.”

]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2014 02:11:11 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/greyshio-vs-balthazar-book-two

As Greyshio begins to open the third floor door, he feels the ground shake a little. “Hmph, such power.” He slowly opens the door. “I wonder if Demeseus can handle it.”

“You should be more worried about yourself.” Greyshio looks ahead and sees Balthazar wearing a black silk styled jacket that has two buttons at the top right side and the letters “RK” stitched in red on the collar. The outline of red flames is stitched along the sleeve edges and the bottom of the jacket, matching his black silk pants. Balthazar has a gold ring on his middle finger with “RK” engraved on it.

“Balthazar,” Greyshio says with disgust.

“Hey, dipshit. You seem live and well.”

“I don’t have time to play in the mud with whiny children who can’t handle taking a loss.”

“That was not a—! Okay, okay. That was only because I underestimated you. But things will be different this time.” Balthazar walks to the far left side of the room. He grabs a shiny knight’s blade off the wall where other much duller weapons are placed. “This is my sword, Enterprise. It’s a custom weapon designed to resist my heat levels.”

“That long paperclip cannot stand against my Empyrean Blade.”

“Hmph, we’ll see.” As the wind blows through the windows, the two men stare each other down without saying a word. Suddenly, Greyshio lowers his blade and vanishes. Balthazar raises his sword toward his neck and blocks Greyshio’s sword swing. He remains in the air, stunned by his opponent’s reaction speed. “I’ve seen your speed.” He turns his head toward him. “It’s not that impressive.” Balthazar fends him off with his blade.

Balthazar raises his sword above his head and rotates it slowly till a ring of fire appears. He sticks his sword in the middle and releases it at Greyshio. Greyshio blocks it by cutting it in half. Greyshio looks around, unable to see where Balthazar went. His eyes continue darting around the room till he feels heat on his back. He slowly looks behind him. “That took you longer than it should have,” Balthazar says with his back to Greyshio.

Balthazar does a wide backswing with his sword. Greyshio jumps forward, turning around just in time to fend off several speedy attacks from Balthazar. He flips into the air and shoots a light string from his hand. He attaches it to Balthazar’s sword and yanks it out of his hand.

Greyshio begins coming down on him like a missile with his sword raised. When he nears, Balthazar’s battle aura activates and burns his body. He desperately rolls on the floor to put out the flames.

Greyshio slowly lifts his head off the ground. “Greyshio, you are too slow. Even if you could surprise me and manage to get a chance to hit me, you’ll have to be faster than my battle aura. Or you’ll get burned.”

Greyshio stands up grinning. “Then that is what I will do.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll get faster.”

“Oh, that celerity shit? That’s not enough either.”

He chuckles. “No. It’s a technique I developed that’s even faster than celerity.”

_______________Event between Removed________________

Down on the third floor, things are starting to heat up. “Faster than celerity?” Balthazar says. He gives him an over confident grin. “Heh, impress me.”

Greyshio takes a deep breath, but doesn’t exhale. He shifts all his weight to the left before vanishing. Balthazar’s eyes open wide in surprise that he can’t trace his movements. He quickly turns his head to the right before a speeding fist hits his head back to the left. He swings his sword and hits nothing but air. Within that short moment, he’s hit again, receiving a large slash wound down his back and another down his left eye.

Balthazar falls to the floor yelling. “Argh, you fucking cunt! You stupid shit! You dare to defile me!? Grrr!” He stands up with his left eye shut. “Eternal aura!”

Blue flames pour from his body before quickly turning orange. Greyshio appears behind him, getting his face burned. Luckily for him, most of the damage is averted by his black scarf. He quickly takes it off and throws it to the side. The scarf turns to ashes, leaving a burn mark on the floor.

Greyshio breathes heavily with first degree burns on his face. He suddenly begins to cough blood as the flaming Balthazar slowly comes his way. “That move. It’s fast. But it looks like it comes with a price. Internal injuries and heavy pressure on the lungs.” He begins to reach for Greyshio slowly, as the wild flames slowly become tame. Greyshio tries to get away, but couldn’t after the stress he put on his body.

Balthazar lifts him from his shirt and into the air. Amazingly, the flames are not burning him. “Don’t fear the flames, boy. They only burn when I tell them to burn. From the looks of your condition, I doubt you will be doing that move anytime soon.” He grins. “I’m gonna burn your face clean off so I can spare the world of your smug looks.” Balthazar opens his mouth wide and orange flames begin to formulate inside.

A second before Balthazar attacks, Greyshio shouts. “Water Defense!” A large sphere of water appears between the two men’s faces to intercept the flames. The sphere slowly begins to shrink as the flames continue to flee from his mouth. After a while, Balthazar’s flames slow to a complete stop once he’s out of breath and the water sphere evaporates.

 “You stupid little shit!” Balthazar says as the calm flames become violent.

“Total Water Defense!” Greyshio shouts as his entire body becomes covered in water.

He kicks himself out of Balthazar’s hands, giving himself good distance from his opponent. The water evaporates till it only covers his limbs and his sword. He grips his blade and stands in an on guard stance. He carefully watches the intensity of the flames rise.

“You’re very quiet today, Greyshio. Whatever happened to the cocky guy that I loathe? Has the truth finally sunken in? No, it’s not that. It would seem you have finally taken this fight seriously and dropped the tough guy act.”

Greyshio makes an egotistical grin and stands up straight. “Hmph, not at all. It’s just that I’ve grown so bored of your talking that I’m contemplating should I kill you now or continue to let you think you’re winning. The point is, only the extremely weak continue to yammer on during battle. And correct me if I’m wrong, but when we fight who usually does the most talking and gets the biggest beating?”

Balthazar is quickly angered by his words. “I see you’re gritting your teeth,” Greyshio antagonizes. “Don’t be mad that you’re weak. And I know what you’re thinking. You're thinking, oh, look who’s over talking now? But between you and me, Balthazar. I’m the exception to the rule.”

Balthazar looks at Greyshio with so much anger in his eyes. He clutches his fist tightly as the room’s temperature begins to rise. The flames around him calm and shrink to less than an inch off his body. “That’s it, Greyshio. I can’t stand your fucking mouth any longer. Burning cyclone!” The orange flames burst from his body, creating an expanding tornado of flames.

Greyshio kneels down. “Aqua dome!” The fiery blaze continuously hits the water as heavy steam rises. Suddenly, Balthazar appears high above the dome, coming down with his sword pointed. The firestorm ends with the piercing of the dome.

Like ink in water, reddish-orange blood rises around the blade before the dome collapses. Greyshio’s face has a shocked expression. He slowly looks down and sees the blade has gone through the lower right side of his back and out through his stomach.

Balthazar pulls it out slowly, causing him to kneel before lying on his back holding his side. “You look like a dog who’s asking for a belly rub. I hope you find steel soothing!” Balthazar says as he raises his sword overhead. Without warning, Greyshio spits dozens of needles out of his mouth. Balthazar jumps back. “Damn it, my arm!”

Greyshio stands up and makes the needles vanish. “I hope you liked the stealth needle. You’ll be dead in minutes.”

Balthazar looks up with a stunned face, then smiles while rubbing his wounds. “Nah. After Bonnie treated Coda, she created a set of antibodies that can fight off your holy poison. It was a precaution in case you did something underhanded and sneaky again.”

“What?”

“In other words, everyone in the Righteous Kiras is now immune to your dirty trick.”

Greyshio exhales slowly and gives Balthazar a very serious look. “In the next seven minutes, this match will have a decisive winner. Fight hard, Balthazar. If not, you will be dead in the next two. Fortify!”

“Oh, your gamble move. Well I—”

Balthazar is interrupted in mid-sentence with a direct hit to his face by the powered up Greyshio. He’s sent flying and twirling through the air. Greyshio speeds behind him and swings his broadsword.

Balthazar comes to his senses at the last second and blocks his attack with his blade. The force of Greyshio’s swing sends him flying across the room. Balthazar lands on the wall and remains motionless. He stares at Greyshio and grunts. “This is it!” Balthazar waves his hand over his sword, creating a white blazing flame to envelop his blade. Suddenly, white fire pours from his entire body, heating the air to new heights. The fire from his body is searing the walls and floors. “This is my full power! I will burn you to a crisp just by touching you!” He pulls his sword back. “Prepare! Yeaahh!” Balthazar leaps off the wall toward Greyshio.

Usually, this would freeze a person, Greyshio calmly thinks. But with his heat, this will aid my victory. I’ll use arctic gale with watery grave. I have to end this within five minutes. Cold air begins circling Greyshio’s body. His clothes start soaking itself with water. Steam begins rising from him the closer Balthazar comes.

Greyshio jumps forward to clash swords. The flames try to devour Greyshio, but the constant cold air and water coming from his body greatly reduces the flame’s strength. The cold gust even pushes away the larger flames.

The two warrior’s blade struggle ends with them bypassing each other. As soon as they land on the ground, Greyshio rushes to him doing spinning slash attacks around his opponent. Balthazar blocks each attack with white sparks flying off his blade. He then ducks under Greyshio’s blade and swings at his legs. He hops over it and lands on Balthazar’s sword. The tip hits the ground as Greyshio does a kick to his face. Balthazar stumbles back a couple feet unarmed. Greyshio slams his sword into the ground, making a medium sized rock fly up toward him.

“Incendiary Blast!” Balthazar shouts, shooting a wide range of white, red, and greenish-blue flames, instantly dissolving the boulder.

Greyshio jumps back and tightens his fist. “Wall of Gaia!” Greyshio slams his hand onto the floor to make a tall thick piece of ground rise up and protect him from the flames. Greyshio’s eyes widen as the wall starts to turn orange in the middle. He shoots a light string to the ceiling and retracts himself upward before the center of the wall explodes in flames.

“Don’t run now! You only got a few minutes left!” Balthazar stops and raises his hand up. “Brimstone!” A massive ball of fire appears above him. He aims it at the ceiling and lets it go full speed at Greyshio. His attack completely destroys the ceiling, causing the hovering Demis to scatter while some burn. Greyshio hits the ground with the falling debris covering him.

“Lucky,” Balthazar says with a smirk. “If these rooms overlapped, someone would have fallen through. Right, Greyshio? Come out! Ninety seconds on the clock and counting!” He looks around with no sign of him. “Either you’re already dead or you’re out of tricks.”

The rocks from the ceiling he’s standing on is slowly becoming magma under his heat. Suddenly, Braveheart’s blade emerges, nearly stabbing him. It goes back down and resurfaces to almost clip his foot. Greyshio’s blade pierces through the rubble several more times before submerging for the last time.

The ground shakes for a moment and Greyshio jumps out of the rubble from behind Balthazar. He throws his sword at him while attaching a light string on the handle. Balthazar turns his body to the side and jumps high up as the blade returns to its wielder. Greyshio begins shooting needles out his mouth as Balthazar’s flames become flaming white demon wings.

Balthazar dips low and flies from the attack. “I see you’re getting desperate!” He flies around the room dodging the needles and Braveheart with ease. “Forty seconds! How will you survive!?” Greyshio grunts and catches back his sword. Balthazar lands on the ground and starts running toward him. He jumps up and his flames transform into a giant, charging white bull. “What happened to your water and wind combo!? Hahaha, you're losing power!”

Fifteen, Greyshio says to himself while taking in a deep breath. At that moment, he disappears in the blink of an eye.

Balthazar comes to a sliding stop. “Damn, that move again. Blazing inferno!” The bull erupts, smothering the entire room in fire and forcing the light producing Demis to dive beneath the debris. “No matter how fast you are, if the whole room is in flames you’re toast! You’ll lose, Greyshio! Hahaha!”

Suddenly, Greyshio appears outside above the fallen ceiling looking down into the blazing room. Balthazar looks up and sees Greyshio with his hand raised. “Gale of Silence.” An unbelievable force of wind slams into the room and annihilates all the flames.

Balthazar is lifted and knocked down. “What the hell?” he says in a confused tone.

“Ice Age.”

When the light Demis slowly rise from the debris like fireflies, dozens of massive ice spires begin bursting through the rubble. Balthazar stands up and frantically looks around as he is being blocked in. He lowers his head and clutches his fist in a shaken rage. “GREYSHIO!” he shouts while forming a fireball in his hand.

A sharp ice spire rises up through the back of his hand, lifting him to Greyshio at great speed. Greyshio jumps down with his sword shoulder high. He comes down and pierces clean through Balthazar’s chest, tearing his hand out of the spike and slamming him into the wall.

Both of them are completely still. Balthazar pinned to the wall and Greyshio staring intensely into his face. Balthazar’s face is awfully dazed as blood oozes from his mouth and chest. He looks up at Greyshio slowly, straining his voice to utter his last words. “What… the fuc…” His head drops to one side.

Greyshio hangs from his sword with one hand. He waves his arm and melts the ice. He rips his sword out the wall, dropping Balthazar to the ground. He lands gently and breathes out slowly. “Zero…”

He drops to the ground and starts vomiting blood with visible clots. His Empyrean Blade receives a countless number of cracks within a second. His body shakes uncontrollably as he tries to sit up.

His nose starts to bleed as his left eye shuts down. He frantically digs into his pocket with his shaky hands and unwraps his second to last elixir. He drinks it hastily with some of it streaming down his jaw. He falls back and exhales while grabbing his blade. I didn’t expect to cut it so close, he thinks as his eyes slowly close. Braveheart disappears soon after.

]]>Thu, 05 Jun 2014 01:46:39 GMThttp://www.charlesleebooks.com/series-moments/derexen-vs-carnavess-carnavess-vs-the-righteous-kiras

Derexen and Bonnie walk into the room. He looks over Ulitia with an impassive stare. He grabs her wrist and leans over to her face. “She’s dead,” he says in a low voice. Derexen strokes the hair from her face twice. He runs his fingers down her cheek very slowly.

Bonnie watches him and grunts before looking away. “Now what? We need a kill to taint this place.”

“Want a kill? Then I’m your guy,” says an echoing voice from above.

Without warning, a huge radiance of light explodes from the floor outside the room. A man with a big sinister smile slowly rises out the ground. He bears a large green and black sword with the point of the blade between his feet, resting his hands gently on the pommel.

His sword has cracked black bones with green lava in the crevasses. His sword’s guard is a formation of tiny black skulls with green light glowing in the eye sockets. The skulls even poke out the blade’s base in smaller sizes and incomplete structures. The grip’s all black and much longer than the average sword. The blade’s shaped like a ninety degree triangle, much like a saw with double-edged teeth moving up to the narrow end.

Once he completely emerges from the ground, he tilts his head and fixates his pale green eyes on Derexen. Derexen steps out of the room first with Bonnie walking behind him. “You’re an elder I presume?” Derexen says.

“Yes, I am. The name’s Carnavess. The elder of supreme power. And I’ve come for your head. You have overplayed your role and now it’s time you go back to the darkness you once came.”

“I don’t think so.” Suddenly, all the Righteous Kiras emerge from the wall. They stand strong, ready to do battle.

 “Uh-oh, it’s elder Carnavess. We’re in trouble,” Aquarius says jokingly.

“How do you know my name?” Carnavess asks without taking his eyes off Derexen.

“I know lots of things. Actually, I know nothing. Just ignore me,” he says with a joyful smile and a light chuckle.

Derexen and Bonnie begin to walk around Carnavess as he slowly turns with them. They continue to stare each other down till Derexen prepares to call forth his swords. When he pushes his arm through the black hole to reach for Catastrophe, he swirls his other arm one time to create a white wheel of light circulating eight fragments of the sword. He puts his hand in the wheel and catches the sword’s white diamond grip with the rest forming through stacking metal pieces.

With the crossing of his arms, the completed sword, Genesis appears in a flash of light. The blade looks like the twin counterpart of Catastrophe. The only difference is the blade’s white pale aura and its engraved gold symbols lined along the glow of the white luster blade.

Carnavess unexpectedly charges at Derexen with blinding speed and does a swift slash. He blocks it with an astonished look on his face. Without losing his sinister smile, Carnavess turns his blade to the right and swings him into the wall. He relentlessly follows through with a dashing piercing attack aimed for his head. Derexen ducks before his blade pierces and demolishes a section of the wall upon pulling out.

Derexen swings his two blades in a cross slash motion. Carnavess swiftly jumps back and tilts his head upon landing. He waves his hand to create a circle consisting of ten spheres of light. The moment Derexen grips his swords, a sphere flies out at him.

Derexen jumps back, causing another sphere to fly. He lands on the wall with his black sword raised as three spheres come his way. He blocks the explosive attack and remains motionless. Although he is slightly torn and bloody, he waits for his foes next move. Derexen grits his teeth and watches Carnavess intently. Not good, he thinks. Carnavess tilts his head again with his never ending smile.

“What's wrong?” Coda asks. “He blocked it, he’s okay.”

Bonnie shakes her head with a nervous look on her face. “No, this is bad. Those attacks are motion based. If Derexen even moves an inch, those orbs will be coming for him. From what I’ve gathered so far, I don’t think Carnavess is allowed to move when he activates that technique. Sofherie, go aid him.”

 “Stay back!” Derexen shouts. “I don’t need everyone getting injured against him.”

“Whoops, you talked,” Carnavess says as another orb flies from his ring of light.

Derexen jumps off the wall at the last second before the orb hits. It explodes on impact as he lands on the ground. Less than a second after landing, he is hit by the next orb. The blast destroys part of his robe. Genesis slides across the floor as he bounces from the force. This uncontrollable movement triggers the next orb to attack. He quickly regains footing and slashes the orb, nullifying its power.

Derexen’s black outfit is charred. His plain black shirt is torn past his abdominals, leaving the robe to cover half his upper torso and most of his lower body.

When the seventh orb is fired, Derexen hops closer to Carnavess and slashes. The eighth and ninth are released. He leaps far above Carnavess’ head and does a spinning slash attack to destroy the remaining orbs. The final orb is released as Derexen comes down like a meteor. He slashes right through it, pitting him only inches from Carnavess’ head.

Without even looking, Carnavess quickly steps to the side with only his robe sleeve being grazed. Derexen follows up with a wide swing in his direction. The attack fails when Carnavess does a light based shimmer far behind him. The fading slashed shimmer looks like a brief scrambled image of him in yellow light.

“Bravo, Derexen!” Carnavess says with a hint of mockery. “Using the dark powers of Catastrophe to null the power of my orbs is very clever. And you managed to nearly cut me… Nice.”

“As powerful as your attack is, it has one weakness,” Derexen says. “The fact that you can’t move until all orbs are deployed makes it easier for your opponent to defeat you.”

Carnavess’ smile becomes an outrageous laugh. “Can’t move!?” he laughs. “Fool. I didn’t move by choice. My abilities have no drawbacks!”

Carnavess rips away his holy robe, revealing his gladiator body. Underneath, he is wearing a sleeveless, green kung fu shirt that’s tucked in his baggy black cotton wool pants. The shirt has long black, horizontal buttons with a vertical black stripe on the sides. Under and around the shoulders is a thin black stripe connecting around it. Around his waist is a long dark green, sash knotted and joined on the right side of his hip.

Carnavess spreads his feet apart and waves his hand to make the circle of light with the ten orbs. He slowly turns his head counterclockwise and grins. “Let us see if I can kill you with five sphere shots. My money’s on yes.”

He jolts toward Derexen with his blade raised and a wide grin on his face. Derexen raises his hand and calls Genesis back to him, causing the first orb to fire. He leaps horizontally toward Carnavess and slashes the orb using Catastrophe. Two more orbs are deployed. Derexen sheaths Genesis into his torn robe to cast a spell with his freehand. “Dark Serge.”

Derexen fires a black, purple, and white electrical attack at Carnavess, destroying the two orbs that came his way. Carnavess quickly rolls out of the way. Just before he bypasses Derexen, he is slashed down his side the moment Genesis is unsheathed. The forth orb is fired and hits Derexen on the back. The explosion creates enough force to separate the two warriors.

When the smoke clears, Derexen is kneeling on the floor. His right arm is bloody and charred, managing to deflect the blast to his arm instead of his back. Carnavess stands tall, barely bleeding from his wound. His sinister grin downgraded a bit, but he still kept the devilish demeanor.

“I figured the only way to injure would cost me,” Derexen says. “In order to hurt you, I must be willing to hurt myself.”

“Yeah, but who gets hurt more? Certainly not me. I’m down to my last five orbs. Shall we play again?”

Aquarius raises an eyebrow. “Five? I counted him shooting four.”

“Derexen, you talked!” Valerie shouts. “Look behind you!”

Derexen rolls to the side. Before the orb can hit him, he slashes it and turns toward Carnavess. He notices that his opponent’s down two orbs, with the third one coming his way. He dismisses Genesis by having it break apart and bursting into small flashes of light before taking a charged leap toward Carnavess, activating another orb.

“That’s four movements,” Carnavess says while leaping toward Derexen. “You’re setting yourself up for a fall.”

Three orbs are coming at Derexen from three different directions, excluding the one in front of him. As the two men near each other, darkness begins to envelop Derexen’s hand as he tucks Catastrophe under his arm. He directs his hand toward the ground. “Swirling Darkness!”

A dark tornado encircles him and cancels out the four orbs. Within one split moment before Carnavess is hit, and the last orb is fully deployed, he shimmers away and reappears behind Derexen. The final orb begins to leave the fading ring when he whispers in Derexen’s ear. “It’s the end.”

Suddenly, a whip wraps around Derexen’s waist. Outside the tornado, Bonnie is being pulled in until it lifts her. “Alexus, catch me!”

As she comes his way, he catches her and pulls her back to yank Derexen out the dark tornado. The two of them hit the floor as the tornado explodes. Alexus kneels down to prop up Derexen and Bonnie.

“Are you two alright?” Alexus asks Derexen.

“I said no interference,” Derexen says.

Bonnie coughs. “Your power has been greatly reduced. Honestly, I’m not sure how you were even able to use that many dark spells. But Carnavess is toying with you. He’s not even fighting at half. Swallow your pride and let us help.”

Derexen hesitates before replying. “Fine.”

Balthazar does an excited arm pump. “Finally! Let’s set this guy a blaze and get the hell outta here!”

The smoke clears with Carnavess standing completely unharmed. “Nine on one.” His sinister smile returns. “This should be fun.” Minerva begins to walk slowly toward him with her head down. “No offense young one, but my only target is Derexen. And that will not change.”

Carnavess begins walking toward Derexen, but she gets in front of him. He steps to the side as if she didn’t stand before him. As he proceeds, Minerva does a swift kick toward his head. He shimmers to the side, moving slightly faster toward Derexen.

Minerva’s pupils become sharp, but her irises remain blue. She leaps backward and lands in front of him. Without a second thought, she begins to unleash a barrage of high-speed attacks. Through a combination of kicks and punches, not a single blow is connected.

She drops down and does a swift under toe kick. He quickly hops over her legs, but she continues to be in motion. Within that moment, she swings her body upside down and pushes off the floor with her hands. Minerva successfully smashes the bottom of her foot underneath his jaw. They both become airborne as she curls her body back and grabs his ankles. She pulls him forward and hurls him toward Aquarius.

As Carnavess soars through the air, his shocked face becomes a smile. Aquarius makes a large ice shard form above him and launches it at him. Carnavess shoots a white stream of fire toward the flying shard.

To his surprise, Balthazar appears in front of the fire and absorbs the flames with his hands. Bonnie wraps her whip around Balthazar’s wrist and pulls him down out of the path of the ice shard. Carnavess yanks on his sash and begins to spin it around. He lassos Minerva by her neck and throws her in front of the attack.

Derexen grunts. “Cancel your attack,” he forcefully commands.

Aquarius clutches his fist and turns the ice lance into water. Carnavess pulls Minerva toward him and punches her in the stomach, sending her into the ground. He lands with his back to Aquarius. He nonchalantly reties his sash and then leaps toward Derexen. Coda’s eyes turn black before he pushes Carnavess far away from them.

Carnavess safely lands. “That’s enough,” Derexen says. “This is getting us nowhere.” He stands up and grips his sword tightly. “Sofherie, Alexus, come forth.”

Alexus summons his scythe and twirls it around. “Ready.”

Sofherie pulls her blades from within her robe and kneels down. “Set.”

Derexen nods softly while Alexus waves his hand to make a dark cloud appear at his feet. The two of them run forward with Derexen leading the attack. He jumps up as Alexus slides underneath him. Derexen lands on his shoulders with them standing in the dark cloud. They both kneel down and extend their blades in opposite directions. Combined, they do a sliding spinning attack that creates a dark ring around them. The ring itself extends three times their combined blade’s length.

Carnavess leaps high above the attack and points his sword at Derexen as he’s coming back down. Sofherie steps forward and shakes for a second. She then swings both her blades like an eagle spreading its wings.

Her swing releases a strong air gust aimed at Carnavess, forcing him to switch from the offensive to the defensive. As he is propelled by the attack, he prevents heavy injury by condensing his body and landing softly above the doorway. He then leaps off, going full speed through the air to attack Derexen.

Carnavess raises his sword over his head and slams it into the ground, making the duo split up. Once parted, he leaps toward Derexen with a violent barrage of swift sword attacks. As the two clash and dodge each other’s attacks, Alexus looms up behind Carnavess and takes a slash at him. Carnavess leans back smoothly dodging Derexen’s attack and blocking Alexus’s all at the same time. “Hey, kid,” Carnavess says with a grin. “This dance is reserved for two.”

Carnavess heel kicks Alexus away and slashes Derexen away as well. The two warriors kneel while Sofherie stands far, with a confused look on her face and her mouth barely open. Carnavess looks at the three of them and starts laughing. “Is this it!? You two kneel like beaten children while the girl is too afraid to get in the fray! So much for the Righteous Kiras! I thought you guys were stronger. Even with Xenler’s power grid restrictions, I honestly expected more.”

Derexen and Alexus look up at each other. Derexen nods twice and Alexus nods once. They look over at Sofherie and all she does is tilt her head to the left.

The two men stand up and bolt toward Carnavess to attack him simultaneously. He easily dodges, blocks, and counters each of their attacks no matter how vicious and planned out they were. As Alexus’s scythe is about to remove his head and Derexen’s sword’s about to server his torso, Carnavess prepares to duck the scythe and block the incoming sword.

Suddenly, they stop in mid-attack and quickly reverse their blades and their attacks. Carnavess instinctively grabs the pole of the scythe and blocks Derexen’s sword with his own. It’s at that moment a long bloody blade bursts out of Carnavess’ chest.

At his backside, Sofherie is knelt down with her blade angled through his back while holding the other one to her chest. “I am the tactician opportunist. Never underestimate the organization’s battle strategies,” she says with a cold face.

Coda starts jumping up and down. “Yeah! Mommy’s the best, mommy’s the best!” Carnavess stands cold as blood drips down his chest. He puts his head slowly down, revealing his sinister grin once again.

 “Get back!” Derexen shouts.

It was too late. Carnavess’ body explodes, blowing them in three different directions. Derexen and Alexus slam up against opposing walls while Sofherie’s about to fly off the edge. Minerva quickly jumps up into her. The collision causes a force cancellation that makes them spin in place before hitting the ground.

“Valerie, go aid Alexus!” Bonnie says as she rushes over to Derexen.

“Damn,” Derexen says as he leans up. “I should have seen it sooner. What an incredible scapegoat ability. This realm is suppressing my dark powers too much. It’s all this light…” Derexen makes a realization. “The light.”

“That’s it! How could we have forgotten!? Focus on the light. Use your abnormal abilities of coexisting attributes.”

 “I am well aware of my light, Bonnie. I’m just not fond of it. I doubt I ever will be.” Derexen sighs as he slowly stands up. “So be it.”

Carnavess slowly descends from the sky, grinning. “To think if I was a little slower, I would be dead right now. Luckily, I just suffered only a mild puncture wound in my back. Well darkling, this is the end. You did your best. But you and your friends can’t beat me, not while I have the advantage. Farewell, dark king.” He raises his massive sword over his shoulder while walking toward Derexen.

Derexen slightly pushes Bonnie to the side before slowly standing. “You want to see what a darkling can do? Sorry, I’m not your guy. But let me show you, what I can do.”

Derexen lets out a mighty howl as enormous amounts of light pour out of his body. The palace begins to shake with Sofherie wakening to his howls. Catastrophe disappears as a longer, slightly broader version of Genesis appears in his hand. All of Derexen’s wounds begin to heal at a rapid pace, leaving his body refreshed.

Carnavess is taken back by his power. No longer does he carry his sinister grin and arrogant looks. His face has a new expression… Fear. “Light? Of this magnitude? This is even greater than… What is this? Why have you healed!? Stop that!”

In the blink of an eye, Derexen moves at a speed that’s never been seen as he thrusts his sword at Carnavess’ face. Carnavess barely dodges it as the blade grazes him from his cheekbone, down to the side of his neck. Derexen kicks him in the chest and punches him in the face several times, ending the combo with a knee to his gut.

Suddenly, Derexen begins to move at blinding pace again. He swiftly does dash slashes all over Carnavess’ body and ends it with a powerful angled punch to his face, sending him flying off the edge. As he soars over the Righteous Kiras and spirals off the edge, Derexen leaps after him.

Greyshio begins to stand up by the farthest side of the dark wall Derexen made. Without warning, Carnavess’ body hits the wall, startling Greyshio for a moment. The force of his crash landing creates minor cracks throughout the structure. His fall causes him to lose his sword as it slides up the dark wall. He lies on his back, bruised and bloody while trying to reach for his weapon.

Suddenly, Derexen falls from above, landing on top of him with his legs spread out. Derexen gives him such an icy glare as the light pours out of his body, gently blowing his tattered clothes. Carnavess couldn’t shake the feeling that he is staring up at a god. Derexen raises his sword and thrusts it toward his face. Carnavess turns his head before it reaches him.

His sword pierces all the way through, making the wall crack even more. He pulls it out and thrusts the blade at his chest, only faster. Carnavess rolls to the side before the blade can hit him. Derexen pulls it out the wall slowly before doing rapid thrust attacks with tremendous speed. Although it’s fast, Carnavess is actually able to dodge over ninety-five percent of the attacks. Derexen suddenly stops and does a slow gravity defying backflip. Carnavess raises his arms up, bracing himself for what’s to come.

He comes down with his feet joined together and smashes him through the dark wall, shattering it like glass. Derexen narrows out his body in order to catch up to his falling foe. He reaches Carnavess and grabs him by the collar before rapidly punching him in the face. He tears the cotton sash from around his waist and wraps it around his neck. Derexen hurls himself downward while choking Carnavess as they fall to the ground.

Aquarius looks over the edge to watch them fight while smiling. “I think it’s time to go.”

“If we needed an exit plan, now’s our chance to make one,” Sofherie says, limping over to Aquarius while using Minerva as a crutch.

“You okay, mommy?” Coda asks.

Sofherie smiles through her burns. “I’m fine, sweetie.”

Bonnie comes from behind the group. “We may need to combine our powers to create a portal that will stay open long enough for all of us to pass through. It must have enough dark energy to override Xenler’s spell.” The Righteous Kiras walk over to the edge and look down. “We have to beat him down there. Valerie, do you have enough power to warp us further down as we fall?”

“I think so,” Valerie replies with little confidence. “But you guys have to be in pairs so I use less energy.”

“Enough talk, I sense palace guards,” Alexus says as he randomly pairs with Minerva and jumps off the edge.

Aquarius looks at Bonnie. “You heard him. Let’s go Bon-Bon.” He grabs her by the wrist and jumps off.

“We better do the same, little boy,” Balthazar says as he attempts to grab Coda.

Coda pulls away from him. “No! I want mommy!”

“You little—! Sofherie take this fucking kid and let’s go!” She takes Coda’s hand and dives head first off the edge. Valerie and Balthazar grab each other by the waist and jump off as well.

As the Righteous Kiras fall at great speed, Bonnie and Valerie give out the commands through their earpieces. “Everyone, gather your energy and release it on my command!” Bonnie says.

“Okay, guys,” Valerie says. “Narrow out your bodies as much as possible! Do not let me pass you!”

She closes her eyes and all of them vanish in a puff of white smoke. They reappear further down the wall. Seconds later, she warps them all again, bringing them a few meters from Greyshio’s location. Greyshio sees them falling and grabs his sword in preparation to strike.

“Give it a rest,” Aquarius says. He flicks his wrist a couple times and freezes Greyshio in a block of ice from the neck down. They all fall pass him, not even bothering to look his way.

Valerie warps them once more, placing them yards from Derexen and Carnavess. “Bonnie, I can’t do this anymore!”

“That’s fine, we’re close enough,” Bonnie says.

As the two men continue to fight it out, Derexen grabs Carnavess by his face and takes his head, grinding it against the wall as they plunge below. Carnavess screams out as a long bloody streak shows his life being shaved away. Suddenly, chains from below wrap around Derexen’s body and pull him away.

Aquarius smiles. “Hey, Minerva!” He shouts behind himself. “It’s Demeseus! And another elder guy!”

With less than sixty-five seconds before they all hit the ground, the obstacles are steadily rising. Demeseus struggles to keep the chains wrapped around Derexen while he pulls him down. Helios steps forward with palace guards standing behind him as he kneels down to swing his broadsword.

“Hello. I’m Helios, the elder of superior intellect. Pleased to meet your acquaintance,” He says as a yellow aura outlines his body.

Helios makes a loud grunt and releases a massive yellow energy aimed at Derexen. Carnavess regains enough focus to comprehend what’s going on and quickly fires a large green and white energy sphere at Derexen as well.

Bonnie panics. “Valerie, one more! Warp him toward us even if it kills you!”

Valerie focuses all her power to the point her nose starts bleeding. She successfully warps Derexen out of the chains, leaving the two attacks to collide.

The force of the blast makes a bright light, blowing Carnavess away from them while reducing the Righteous Kiras falling speed. “Demeseus, catch Carnavess,” Helios says. “I’ll finish these guys.” He kneels down charging up for another devastating attack.

“Nooow!” Bonnie screams. All the Righteous Kiras point their hands forward and open up a large vortex. They all fall within the portal, fading into the black.

Just before Helios is about to swing, Grayson appears from behind him, laying his hand over his. “Hold on. We can use that portal. I’m having Xenler stabilize it as we speak.”

Demeseus catches the badly beaten Carnavess in a hand of chains.

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